04/04/2018

01:22

Compare cheap hotels

It’s deals time! Find the best price for your hotel stay

Whether you are a holiday DIYer, a planner of amazing city breaks or a squidgy-hearted romantic seizing a weekend with the other half, unleash your travel-planning superhero when you use TravelSupermarket to find and book cheap hotel deals.

Our top picks.

London hotels from £35 per night

Double room | Room only

Manchester hotels from £52 per night

Double Room | Room only

Manhattan, New York hotels from £453

Double room | Room only | 2 adults

Compare deals easily

Enter your requirements and hit search, then compare a huge range of cheap hotel deals from leading room providers – all on one website. Simply choose the best deal and you’ll be transferred to the provider’s site to make your booking.

We can save you money

As part of the MoneySuperMarket Group, we’re dedicated to saving you money. Comparing deals allows you to find the best value room for your needs, from cheap hotels to luxury suites.

It’s stress-free

Our service is secure, free and easy to use – we compare deals from the largest and most reputable hotel room providers so you don’t have to, ensuring you never pay more than necessary.

Hassle-free hotel booking

We make it fun, easy and hassle-free to find the world’s best hotels at low prices. A swanky five-star stay in London? You got it. Low-cost elegance in Paris? It’s yours. Two minutes to Times Square in New York? No problem. Your perfect hotel is here on TravelSupermarket.

Simply run a search, use our handy sliders to narrow by star rating, guest rating, price and location, and then compare cheap hotel deals. You can even search by facility, if you fancy a game of tennis, need an airport transfer or must have free wi-fi (or other useful stuff). Booking is easy too, as we take you direct to the travel company.

If scouring the internet for your ideal hotel feels like finding a needle in a haystack, think of TravelSupermarket as the genius who brought the metal detector. We use our super search and comparison powers to help you find the best hotel deals.

Hear the Story of the Irish in Dublin, tour the Nine Streets in Amsterdam, soak up the sun and cosmopolitan vibe in Majorca, learn about sporting and music greats in Manchester. Intrigued? You should be, the world is a fascinating place and it is calling your name. So answer the call and book an awesome hotel deal.

28/03/2018

17:01

Smarter Travel

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Get the Best Hotel Rate

Sarah Schlichter

Senior Editor Sarah Schlichter’s idea of a perfect trip includes spotting exotic animals, hiking through pristine landscapes, exploring new neighborhoods on foot, and soaking up as much art as she can. She often attempts to recreate recipes from her international travels after she gets home (which has twice resulted in accidental kitchen fires — no humans or animals were harmed).

Sarah joined the SmarterTravel team in 2017 after more than a decade at the helm of IndependentTraveler.com. Sarah’s practical travel advice has been featured in dozens of news outlets including the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Budget Travel, and Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio. Follow her on Twitter @TravelEditor.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: “A journal. Even years later, reading my notes from a trip can bring back incredibly vivid memories.”

Travel Motto: “‘To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.’ — Freya Stark”

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: “Aisle.”

While even cars have gone the way of reliable sticker prices, hotel accommodations remain a haggler s game, with arcane and confusing rules and terminology that seem aimed to sneak dollars out of your pocket even when you think you re making out well. Take the term corporate rate, for instance. Corporate employees travel a lot; they must get a good rate, right? Well, some of them do, but probably not the ones who ask for the corporate rate.

Following are some tactics for getting the best hotel rates any time you travel. Your mileage may vary, and some hotels are more flexible than others, but these 15 tricks should keep you on the winning side of the bargaining table.

1. Ask for a lower rate.

This sounds simple, even doomed, but very often works like a charm. Ask whether the hotel is currently running any promotions or packages, and then see if any of the following special rates might apply: AAA, senior, family, hotel membership, weekend, government discount, frequent flier, convention, shareholder or corporate. Hotels sometimes even have what is called a fallback rate for travelers who are resisting the quoted rate.

2. Shop around online.

For the latest hotel bargains in locations around the world, be sure to check our discount hotel deals daily. In addition, check the Web sites of your favorite hotel chains; often they will run promotions exclusively for Web bookings.

Hotel discount reservation services like Hotels.com can also help you save considerably on hotel rates, as can general travel booking sites like Expedia and Travelocity. Note, however, that these sites may charge booking fees, so often your best strategy is to shop around to find the lowest rate and then call the hotel directly to see if they can match it.

You may also want to check aggregator sites like Kayak or Mobissimo, which search a wide range of hotel chains and travel sites, and then send you directly to the provider for booking.

Related:

3. Book by price, not by property.

If you care less about a specific hotel than getting the cheapest deal, you may want to consider choosing your own price on Priceline or shopping the anonymous (but deeply discounted) hotel inventory on Hotwire. On these sites you often won t know which hotel you re staying at until it s booked, but you can request the general location and quality (three-star, four-star, etc.) and you could save a significant amount of money over other booking sites.

4. Call the hotel directly.

Many times specials are offered at the hotel that can t be submitted through the 1-800 central reservations system. The 800 agents have no direct access to room availability, and are often not authorized to negotiate. Hotel agents are generally more in touch with availability and specials, and are therefore more flexible with rates.

Many chains allot only a select number of rooms to the central reservations system, so 800 agents may even tell you a hotel is sold out when in fact the hotel is discounting rooms because of low booking rates!

5. Be flexible with your dates.

Hotel rates can vary widely based on the time of year and the time of week when you travel. If you re staying at a property that serves mostly business travelers, you may find great weekend deals, while B B s and other leisure properties tend to have lower rates midweek. On a broader scale, know when the peak seasons to visit your destination are such as wintertime in the Caribbean or summertime in Europe. Rates will be sky-high at those times of year, so scheduling your trip for a less popular travel time could save you big bucks on your hotel.

6. Take advantage of last-minute specials.

If your travel plans are flexible, you could get a great rate by waiting to book your hotel until the last minute. Hotel managers are often willing to lower their rates to fill their last remaining rooms.

7. Consider a package deal.

If you re looking for both airfare and hotels, shop around and see if it s worth booking the two together as a package deal. You may not have as many hotel choices as you would if you were booking your lodging separately, but the discounts could be worth the lack of flexibility.

8. Consider a private sale.

Private sale sites Jetsetter.com and TabletHotels.com/privatesale/ offer exclusive deals on hotels and resorts, but you must be a member to access them, and most sales don t last very long. If you re open-minded about where you want to go and when, these sites can help you land deep discounts at upscale properties.

9. Look beyond the big hotels.

If you re seeing high rates at big chain hotels, consider some alternatives. These could include bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, hostels or independently owned small hotels most of which can t be found on big booking engines. For advice on how to research these, see our guide to finding hidden hotels.

10. Know the full cost.

You may think you ve found a great deal, but keep in mind that the base rate isn t the only thing that will determine your total bill. Be sure to ask what taxes, resort fees, parking costs, energy surcharges, and other odds and ends will apply to your final tally. Even if one hotel has a lower base rate, it may end up being a more expensive option once all the extras are added in. For more information, see Hidden Hotel Fees.

11. Keep an eye on your credit card statements.

Occasionally, buried in all that junk stuffed in with your credit card statement are vouchers or guarantees for good hotel rates offered in conjunction with your credit card company. Typically, you have to request a specific rate code, included in the literature, and reserve and pay for the room with that particular credit card (or one issued by the same bank or company).

12. Use coupon and voucher books.

The number of discount coupon and voucher companies, both in print and on the Internet, is almost mind-boggling. Everywhere you look, you can tear off, cut out, download, print out or merely mention a discount coupon rate, and you can save on just about every aspect of travel. Do a Web search for coupons for your destination or hotel chain for some links to local and online coupon distributors.

In the midst of this abundance, one discount book stands head and shoulders above the rest: Entertainment Books published by Entertainment Publications. The great majority of discounts available come in at half price, whether they re two-for-one meals or movies, or straight 50 percent discounts on hotel rooms. The company publishes books annually for dozens of major U.S. and Canadian destinations. They can be purchased online for $25 to $50.

Once you ve booked your hotel, don t just rest on your laurels. Call back or check online in another month or so and see whether rates have gone down. If they have, cancel your booking and rebook your stay at the lower rate. (Read the hotel s cancellation policy carefully before doing so to make sure you won t have to pay any penalties.)

14. Use your points.

Can t find the rate you want? Try paying with hotel points instead. If you belong to a hotel s loyalty program and have accumulated enough reward points, you can often use them to pay for your room (or for an upgrade to a better class of room).

15. Leave your bags in the car.

Planning to negotiate when you arrive? Don t haul a huge piece of luggage into the lobby and then tell the agent that you d just as soon go elsewhere if they can t bring their rates down. You ll look tired, hassled, sick of lugging bags and, to a shrewd hotel clerk, ready to pay handsomely to unpack that suitcase.

Create a personalized budget for your hotel and other travel expenses with our popular Travel Budget Calculator!

17:01

Five Ways to Get a Better Hotel Room Rate

Looking to score a deal on a great hotel? These digital tips and tricks from T+L will ensure you get the best price in the house.

Know the Market

Timing is key. The Web-based price predictor feature on TheSuitest forecasts how room prices are expected to fluctuate for the next month—use it to find the right time to buy in any market. Then cross-check with DealAngel and Bing’s Hotel Rate Indicator—both compare quoted rates with a hotel’s average cost, telling you which deals are really worthwhile.

Stay Notified

Bank on price drops. You don’t have to do all the work yourself. Sign up for e-mail notifications from Yapta, and the booking site will alert you if room prices go down; if you make a reservation with Tingo, they will track your rate and refund you if a cheaper one pops up.

Book Blind

Suspense can pay off. You can save up to 60 percent with mystery-booking pioneer Hotwire and Travelocity’s Top Secret Deals. The trade-off: they don’t tell you where you’re staying until you’ve paid. For that, turn to Bidgoggles and HotelDealsRevealed, which can help you figure out what property might be behind the curtain. Better yet, Guestmob offers similar discounts if you let it choose one of four predetermined hotels for you (all in the same part of town).

Try Your Luck

It’s not as risky as you think. We love Priceline’s Name Your Price auction tool, which lets you propose a rate to properties you’re considering. Equally worthwhile is BackBid. Use it to submit the details of an existing, refundable reservation, and similar hotels will try to outdo one another on savings. You can also win big with Roomer: like StubHub for hotels, it’s a resale marketplace for nonrefundable bookings—sold here at rock-bottom prices.

Procrastinate

Early birds don’t always get the worm.Same-day booking apps such as HotelTonight(free; iOS) and Booking.com Tonight(free; Android, iOS) yield up to 70 percent off regular rates, if you’re willing to wait until the last minute. Thanks to their popularity, there’s plenty of inventory to choose from daily. Pro tip: the deepest discounts surface on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and right after holidays.

14/02/2018

15:13

How to Find a Cheap Hotel Room: Sites to Use and Sites to Avoid

July 20, 2017 / By NomadicMatt

As much as I love hostels and other forms of cheap accommodation, there is something nice about the luxuriousness of a hotel: the clean room, comfy bed, desk, iron, strong shower, and bottled soap for the taking (errr I mean borrowing). They are quiet, relaxing, and a respite from the world.

But luxury comes at a price. Hotels certainly aren’t cheap, and I hate spending money on a room I am only going to be in for a few hours. After all, it’s just a place to sleep (and take soap). It’s why I mostly avoid hotels — I don’t think they are a good use of money. I would much rather stay in a hostel or Airbnb, which cost less, have more social interaction, and don’t make you feel as removed from the destination you’re staying at. I always feel hotels are so isolating like a concrete bubble keeping out the place you’re visiting.

But there are times when a hotel can’t be avoided. Hostels aren’t everywhere, booking a last minute hotel room is easier than finding an Airbnb host, and sometimes you just really need a nice bed and shower. Plus, I have a ton of points so free is worth the isolation.

A few years ago, I was traveling to conferences and other work-related events a lot and staying in a bunch of hotels. I decided to see which hotel booking sites came back with the cheapest results. I picked five cities to research (London, Los Angeles, Paris, NYC, and Seattle) and stays close to the date of my research and then far in advance, on both weekdays and weekends.

The overall numbers showed that some sites were stronger in certain regions or for certain classes of hotel. TravelPony was the winner in the US and for higher-class hotels, and Expedia dominated London and Paris, while Priceline was great for 2-star hotels and Hotwire for 3-star hotels. The big loser? Booking.com.

That was in 2014, and booking websites and options have changed a lot since then. The only constant in travel is that nothing is constant — and a booking website is as only good as its inventory, which, as someone who now owns a hostel that’s not listed in every booking engine, I can tell you varies widely.

So I decided to do another search. This time I searched Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Agoda, and Priceline for prices in London, New York, Paris, Bangkok, Buenos Aires, and Berlin. I searched on July 3 rd for space later that week and then one month later during the weekday and weekend (prices and availability change on the weekend).

Well, the complete opposite of the previous results. Back in 2014, Booking.com was terrible, TravelPony showed promise, and Agoda was only good in Asia.

This time around the clear winner was Booking.com, followed by Agoda. Though it didn t return the largest number of total places, Booking.com returned the largest number of cheap places and that s the most important thing. I found the best deals and largest variety in all the destinations I searched for on Booking. For example, in my September search in Paris, it listed over 2,300 results, including 250 2 star listings and 750 star listings (and it told me the place was over 60% booked when I searched). Agoda still had the best results in Asia (it returned 2,900 results in Bangkok compared to 2,500 for Booking) but had definitely expanded their listings around the world it roughly tied Booking in Paris, Buenos Aires, and Sydney for overall listings, though they had fewer budget listings than Booking.

And all those other major booking websites? Well, Orbitz and Travelocity are part of Expedia and use the same database, and while they turned back a large number of results, they tilted more to the higher end of the price spectrum. And websites like Priceline and Hotwire have top-notch blind booking and bidding options that can get you a very cheap hotel (in the star category and area you want). Sometimes prices are up to 40% off. The downside? You don’t get to know the name of the hotel you’re staying in until after you have paid.

There are a lot of hotel websites and I’ve tried many over the last few years as I’ve started to book hotels more and more, but this test just proved what I already thought: for cheap accommodation, Booking.com and Agoda are just the best resources that have the largest selection of results. If you search these two companies, you ll always find the best hotel bargains in the 1, 2m or 3 star category.

Note: Years ago, I said to skip Trivago because I found it misleading: when you went to the other sites to compare results, the hotel classes and prices were different. I found the same thing this time. I clicked over to their cheapest deals, then did the search on the website they took me to only to find out that the place Trivago listed wasn’t even in the same class I wanted — and there were better options on the redirected website. In short, I would still skip Trivago.

How to book a cheap hotel

Besides using the right booking websites, there are some hacks you can use to score the cheapest room rate possible:

Contact the hotel websites directly – If you’re booking a big-name, global-brand hotel (think Starwood, Marriott, Hilton, etc.), book directly with that hotel. They often have the best deals on their website, but if you find a better deal elsewhere, they’ll match it. The big benefit to direct bookings at these global hotel chains is that you only earn loyalty points and status when you book directly, so if you love points, don’t book their rooms elsewhere.

Bargain – Want a better deal? Call up a hotel and ask for one. Sometimes they can give you better rates, especially if it’s during mid-week on some non-peak time of the year.

Use loyalty reward programs – The best way to stay for cheap is to stay for free. Collect points with the big chains by using their branded credit cards, shopping portals, and other travel hacking methods.

Use discount rates like AAA or AARP – If you are part of the AARP or AAA you can get special rates that are cheaper. Fun fact: Anyone can join the AARP. I’m a member. They have amazing travel benefits (including deals on hotels and British Airways flights). It’s well worth the membership.

Get discounted gift cards – You can book major hotel chains with hotel gift cards. Check out a website like Giftcardgranny.com for discounted gift cards and use it to book your hotel. (Gift card purchases also count toward point earnings and status.)

Buy someone else’s reservation with Roomer – Often people can’t go on a trip and can’t cancel the reservation, so rather than lose the money, hotels put these rooms on Roomer, where they sell it at a discount to earn some money back. I’ve never used this website, but I’ve heard decent things about it. It’s worth a try.

Hotel pricing is a lot more set than airline pricing and tends to fluctuate less. I wouldn’t spend hours searching hotel websites or days tracking prices like people do with airline prices. I’d spend, at the most, 30 minutes on booking a hotel. I found that the variation between sites isn’t enough to justify more time.

Just follow the steps above, get a great cheap room, and enjoy your trip.

P.S. – Want to be featured on my Instagram account AND win some sweet prizes? I m holding a contest on Instagram right now, so check out my account for the details!

P.P.S. – Want to travel with me? There are only 4 spots left on my next reader tour! I ll be taking readers on an intimate group tour of Vienna and Prague, where we will visit all my favorite sights, restaurants, bars, and off the beaten path places! Come explore the world with me!

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14/02/2018

15:12

How to Find Cheap Hotels

Hotels regularly sell their under booked rooms for less than their standard price. The Internet is flush with hotel discount websites, so it can be difficult to know which service is listing the lowest price. Although the Internet is still the best place to look for big deals on hotel rooms, you can use all these tools to get the biggest discount.

Trip Doctor: How to Get Last-Minute Hotel Deals

HotelTonight (Android, iOS): The pioneer of same-day booking apps, HotelTonight features staff-vetted properties in more than a hundred cities around the world, with tags like Hip, Luxe, or Charming to guide your search. Expect trendy boutique hotels and even some splashy new openings—but don’t get too attached to any one spot. Deals change daily and can be reserved only from noon onward.

Booking.com Tonight (iOS): With the most properties, this Priceline and Booking.com team effort offers the best comparison shopping. Case in point: we found 184 hotels in New York City on a recent search, varying from Best Westerns to the St. Regis. Deals become available at midnight—earlier than most apps—and they’re valid for one- and two-night stays only.

Our Best Score: The Albion Hotel in Miami Beach for $127 a night (40 percent off).

Blink (iOS): Europe’s answer to HotelTonight, Blink kicks off deals at 11 a.m. each day with a curated selection of four hotels per city, and favors trusted midlevel and luxury brands—think Sofitel, Hilton, and Meliá—over independent gems. It even covers smaller destinations such as Trieste, Italy, or San Sebastián, Spain—perfect for arranging side trips on a whim.

Our Best Score: The Grande Hotel, in Porto, Portugal, for $90 a night (30 percent off).

Hotel Deals by Lastminute.com (iOS): If making day-of decisions leaves you anxious, this Travelocity-owned app lets you book a week before checking in. The discounts are impressive (up to 55 percent off), especially for the “Top Secret Hotels”—you find out the name after you pay. Don’t like typing your payment info in public? The app cleverly lets you scan in a photo of your credit card instead.

Hot Hotels (Android, iOS): Launched in Spain last year, this Europe-centered app has a refreshing spin: a portion of its proceeds buy carbon credits that offset each user’s stay. Not surprisingly, its inventory is strongest on the Iberian peninsula (with 50 cities listed in Spain alone), but it also dabbles in South American destinations such as Lima and Buenos Aires.

How to Get the Lowest Rate on Your Hotel Room

“The traveler who can do the most research wins,” says Brooke Ferencsik, director of communications at TripAdvisor.

For many trips, the lodging accommodations tend to be a major budget eater, and finding the best hotel price depends on the destination, season and hotel availability.

Even though the experts say the best time to book your flight for domestic travel is 21 to 35 days before you depart, if you’re comfortable with a hotel rate, no matter how far out you are from your travel dates, book it, recommends Maria Katime, spokesperson for KAYAK. “Hotel rates are not as volatile as airfare.”

To help reduce hotel costs to make your summer vacation more affordable, experts offer the following tips:

Know when to look. As a general rule, hotel rates drop closer to check-in date, says Sarah Keeling, director of public relations at Expedia, but there are risks for waiting until the last minute.

Continue Reading Below

“You may be forced into taking the room with the single queen bed for your family of four.” She suggests booking your hotel 14 to 21 days prior to your travel dates.

There are always exceptions to the rule. Hotel rates in Orlando and Las Vegas tend to start dropping between three months or 30 days ahead of arrival dates, according to Katime. Rates in New York tend to fall as the check-in nears, and rates in Chicago generally increase as the arrival date nears.

Look outside the epicenter “If you’re going to a very popular destination, the price decreases a significant amount if you go outside that attraction’s center,” says Katime. Research to make sure moving farther away from an attraction is still the most affordable option when adding a rental car or public transportation into the mix.

Be flexible with travel dates. Sometimes lengthening or shortening your trip by a day or two can bring the overall price down, says Gabe Saglie, senior editor at Travelzoo. High-demand markets may have different pricing for weekend and weekday stays.

Become loyal. “These days, hotels come up with very aggressive loyalty plans as a way to encourage people to visit again and again,” says Saglie. Members can benefit from amenities and upgrades, which can be a good value boost.

It’s not all about hotels. “[Vacation rentals] can often provide significant savings for families and larger groups traveling for a week or longer,” says Ferencsik. These properties have larger common areas, multiple bedrooms and more living space. If booking two hotel rooms, a vacation rental can save you up to 65%, according to TripAdvisor. “It’s the comforts of a home away from home but at a cool vacation destination,” says Ferencsik. They also come equipped with a kitchen, which could bring more savings from not having to eat out every night.

Bed and breakfasts can also bring significant savings, says Ferencsik, and most also have the great benefit of a complimentary breakfast, afternoon snack or happy hour. “B Bs are a fun option for travelers who like to socialize with other travelers—you can meet the other guests at breakfast and happy hours.”

Look off-season. “Seasonality is very big” when it comes to prices, says Saglie. “If you want to go to a luxury hotel in the Caribbean, it’ll cost you a lot more if you go in February than if you go in June.” Choose destinations having a natural slowdown in travel—consider the Caribbean, Mexico or a ski destination in the summer. “Dealing with a little bit of heat can be a great way to save money,” Saglie says. In the winter, London hotels are much cheaper than they are in July or August.

Choose your day wisely. Popular business travel destinations, like New York City or Chicago, may have lower rates on weekends while a leisure destination, like Los Angeles or Miami, may be more affordable during the week, says Saglie. Except for holidays, family-friendly destinations might have greater available and lower pricing during the week when kids are in school.

Consider waiting until the last minute. Booking your hotel in advance gives peace of mind but might not be great for your wallet. A last-minute booking can have significant discounts, according to Saglie.

“Mobile apps do a great job of pulling together last-minute deals in the area surrounding you,” says Courtney Scott. Travelocity’s senior editor.

But be warned: Availability does dwindle the closer you get to your travel dates. Experts caution against booking last minute if you’re traveling with a family. Although booking last minute can save you 30% to 40% on a hotel, you won’t be able to plan ahead and won’t have the stability that a package deal offers.

Look for renovated hotels. “During and right after renovations, hotels usually offer some great discounts,” says Saglie.

Bid on your hotel. Websites like Priceline.com or topsecrethotels.com claim to get users up to 45% off the published rate of a hotel but you won’t know the hotel until after it’s booked. This could work when you’ve already booked flights or are taking the train to your destination, says Scott. “If you can be adventurous and spontaneous, this is a great way to save.”

Book package deals. “The package concept may be a better deal because vacation packages providers can better negotiate room rates than the average consumer,” says Saglie. Occasionally you can find cheaper hotel rates without booking a package but for the most part, packages are more economical.

“When you bundle them together, hotels will release their deepest discounts,” says Scott. You can save up to $525 on average for a five-day trip. Most websites do the calculation so you can see the actual savings from bundling your hotel and flight versus booking them separately.

08:01

How to Look for a Hotel Room With a Jacuzzi in It

In-room Jacuzzi tubs are often scaled down version of commercial tubs. (Photo: Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images )

Related Articles

To some travelers, nothing beats the simplicity and relaxation offered at day’s end by a soak in a private, in-room Jacuzzi tub. While many properties offer hot tubs, spas and Jacuzzis in public areas, finding a room with such an amenity is not as easy. In-room Jacuzzis are often found as an amenity in romantic resorts and high-end suite properties, but don’t count them out completely from individual boutique or chain hotels.

Locating the Amenity

Step 1

Identify a regional area where you’d like to stay. Search Internet websites of suitable hotel properties within that area by selecting specialty amenities from the website’s reservation requirements checklist. If the site is lacking that feature, check the hotel room amenity list or room photographs. You can also search using keywords. Type in the location, the words “hotel” and “Jacuzzi” or “hot tub” to narrow your search.

Step 2

Search for hotels or resorts in large metropolitan areas or those that advertise features for couples, luxury in-room amenities, in-room spa features or suites. Most properties that have the unique feature highlight that fact somewhere on the property website or in print advertising. Check with the local visitors and convention bureau for additional guidance if you are not able to locate a property online.

Step 3

Call the individual hotel directly to see if in-room Jacuzzi tubs are offered in any of its rooms. Don’t rely on website descriptions, general reservation hotlines or non-affiliated reservation services for this information. On-site reservations or general hotel staff are more apt to know the exact features of each individual room.

Step 4

Ask the staff for a list of available room numbers that offer in-room Jacuzzis. Make certain the room listed has a fully functioning Jacuzzi, not just a deep bath tub.

Step 5

Make your reservation requesting one of the specific rooms. Note your confirmation number and the name of the agent that gave you the Jacuzzi information. Take that information with you upon hotel check in.

Tip

Many hotel properties are going green, which means cutting back on general hotel water use. Deep bath tubs and Jacuzzi tubs are being replaced with showers as a means of saving water and for guest safety. If you find a hotel room with a Jacuzzi, inquire as to future bath remodeling plans. This is especially important for reservations made far in advance of your travel dates. If you are choosing a hotel based on an amenity, you want to make sure that amenity is viable for your dates of travel.

References

About the Author

Kimberly Kilmer began her writing career in 1990. With work published in breed-specific canine magazines, she is also a pet columnist for Healthcare Traveler, a staff writer for Metropolitan Magazine and an online writer concentrating on recreational pursuits, travel and dogs. Kilmer holds a Bachelor of Science in recreation from West Virginia University.

Keeping The Terminally Ill Patient At Home (Making It Happen)

If your loved one wishes to stay at home up till the very end, then you need to make that wish clearly known to your RN casemanager, the social worker, your physician and any other hospice staff who inquires about your wishes. If there are other family members available to help out, discuss this decision with each other, and make sure that all family members are working together toward your goal.

Hospices can provide services which help during part of the day. At the Routine Home Care Level of Care, the hospice would be sending out Home Health Aides to help with bathing, dressing, basic bedside care and activities of daily living. They can sometimes send out home service aides to help with housework or cooking and other tasks. Volunteers from the community who serve at your hospice can also spend time with your loved one, freeing up time for you to go out if needed, or just to get a break from caregiving. The RN casemanager and other nurses will be visiting periodically during the week to evaluate your loved one’s condition, monitor for any changes, and to make sure your loved one is getting the medications and services needed meet his or her needs.

However, in some cases, you should be prepared for hospice staff who might attempt to convince you to bring your loved one to the hospice facility. While this may be appropriate for some patients, if you really want to keep your loved one home, you can. You, as patient or family/caregiver, have rights to choose to stay home, and nobody can force you to enter a facility against your will. However, if you do choose to stay home, then you need to mobilize all resources and assistance you can muster to help make it happen. A good first step would be to ask the hospice RN and the medical social worker if she or he knew of other community resources where you could get help to care for your loved one.

What can the family do to help keep their loved one home?

The family members can make a schedule of when each family member will be there to provide care so that all hours are covered.

You can ask for help from your local church or synogogue. Sometimes it is necessary to be willing to let others help out, if you are to succeed in keeping your loved one in the home.

You can ask for help from friend or acquaintances.

You can directly hire extra help. Help can come from nursing agencies or other sources. For example, if your loved one does not need nursing care all the time, then you could hire sitters from agencies or even directly hire people from the community. Some people put an ad in the newspaper letting people know that they would be hiring a helper and specifying the hourly wage they would directly pay to helpers. Many colleges and universities have employment centers for their students who are seeking part-time or full-time work. The students can often work hours that others may not be willing to take, and they usually do not need as high a wage as household bread-winners who are trying to support a household and family.

Whether you have the immediate family care for the patient or relatives, or close friends, you will probably need assistance of many sorts. If the family can come together and work together, that is the very best circumstance.

The hospice must meet the care needs of the patient and family unit. 1 The services which are required to be provided include family needs for support and counseling. If symptoms go out of control and the patient experiences uncontrolled severe pain or other symptoms, then the hospice must provide, in most circumstances, what is called continuous nursing care in your own home. which is around the clock nursing at home, provided by licensed nurses more than 50% of each day, with the rest of the care provided by home health aides. 2

A Registered Nurse (not an LPN) must personally visit the patient to assess his or her condition each day. If the patient’s symptoms are brought under control, then continuous care may be discontinued. However, if symptoms remain out of control, the RN may continue to have nursing staff provided around the clock in your home. After three days the hospice will re-evaluate whether continuous nursing care in the home can be continued. Continuous nursing care may also be provided when the patient is actively dying and very near the end.

The hospice will help you learn how to care for the patient at home. The Registered Nurse will teach you about the medications to be given and how to give them. If you have questions about your loved one’s care after normal business hours, you can always call the hospice’s on-call nurse. Whatever the situation, the hospice staff are experts in handling the types of situations that come up. There is much information available that can help you keep your loved one at home. Read whatever literature the hospice provides and ask questions. Discuss your wishes among yourselves as a family and with the hospice staff. The more you communicate, the better the outcome will be.

1 According to federal regulation 42 CFR 418.58(c) the hospice’s Plan of Care must state in detail the scope and frequency of services needed to meet the patient’s and family’s needs.

2 42 CFR 418.204 states that, Nursing care may be covered on a continuous basis for as much as 24 hours a day during periods of crisis as necessary to maintain an individual at home. A period of crisis is a period in which the individual requires continuous care to achieve palliation or management of acute medical symptoms. 42 CFR 418.82 states that Nursing services must be directed and staffed to assure that the nursing needs of patients are met. The hospice must meet your needs for nursing care!

Hospice and How It Can Help the COPD Patient AND Caregiver

Hospice can be an invaluable resource for people with end-stage COPD and their overworked, overwhelmed caregivers. But before I get into that, let me apologize. I’m writing 3 posts today, and they’re all a bit on the depressing side, because they deal with death.

I don’t mean to remove all hope for people fairly new to COPD as they read these posts. There are many opportunities for hope and a certain quality of life, even after a diagnosis of COPD. But it’s also a fact that COPD is a chronic, progressive illness for which there is no cure. Eventually, death does become a reality. It can take years, but it will happen at some point. So, while it’s important to live life to the fullest as long as you can, it’s also important for both patient and caregiver to prepare for what is coming in the future.

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So, this post is about how hospice can help, and the sooner it is initiated once the end is approaching, the better. Unfortunately, many people do not get referred to hospice (or are not ready to accept it) until far too late. And at that point, there may not be time for hospice staff to do what they are so good at. easing the way to a dignified, peaceful death.

My mom was referred to hospice during a recent hospitalization. and it turned out to be far too late. Although I have said that she was “dying for the last 2 years” more than once, in the end, she deteriorated so rapidly that we weren’t even thinking hospice before she went into the hospital. And then it was too late for her (or us) to reap the benefits, for the most part.

Hospice is a concept of care that provides comfort and support (on several levels) to patients and caregivers when traditional medical care can no longer prevent death from coming on, usually within a few weeks or a few months.

Hospice is a team-oriented approach that neither prolongs life nor hastens death. According to the Hospice Foundation of America, “the goal of hospice care is to improve the quality of a patient’s last days by offering comfort and dignity.”

Hospice care is not just about providing physical care, though that is certainly included. It’s also about the emotional, social, and spiritual impact of the disease and of the dying process.

Hospice does not usually refer to a place. 80 percent of hospice care is provided in the patient’s home. The emphasis is on enhancing comfort and reducing any pain or distress.

When the doctor says that nothing more can be done to improve or even maintain respiratory function, and that death is likely within the next one to six months, then hospice should certainly be considered. Hospice doesn’t mean giving up. it means making a conscious choice to focus on the quality of your life in your last days and then to go out on your own terms!

When you accept hospice, though, you are accepting that you will no longer be accepting life-sustaining or invasive treatments, except in the case of an emergency. It also entails acknowledging “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) status. In other words, if your heart or lungs stop working, you do NOT want emergency personnel to initiate treatment that would get things going again.

However, if you were to fall and hit your head or if you broke a bone, then emergency treatment for those would be acceptable, even if you are on hospice.

Once you go on hospice, you are not a prisoner. You CAN change your mind and go off of it. But you can only do that once or twice. So do not take the decision about hospice lightly. Make sure you are ready.

What Does Hospice Offer?

As I’ve already stated, hospice can be beneficial both to the patient and to the caregiver. I have been a COPD caregiver for more than 4 years, and it takes a toll. So, even if patients are willing to “go it alone”, keep in mind how helpful hospice can be to your caregivers.

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Most people who have hospice have Medicare health insurance, but both Medicaid and private insurance also often will cover hospice care in qualified people. Here are the hospice services typically covered by Medicare:

Nursing care and case management

Physician oversight sometimes home visits

Home health aide bath services

Medical appliances, medication, and supplies

Spiritual, dietary, and other counseling

Trained volunteers for patient companionship caregiver respite

Social work services

24/7 on-call availability

Most people think of hospice in relation to cancer patients, but it can also be helpful to a respiratory patient. As death approaches in someone with COPD, breathing gets harder and harder and air hunger, fear and stress can develop.

Hospice nurses can help tweak oxygen levels and delivery methods, along with morphine and other medicines to control this air hunger and emotional stress. How much will that contribute to a more peaceful, gentler COPD death?

How to Learn More About Hospice

The Hospice Foundation of America website has lots of information about hospice, such as their Myths and Facts About Hospice page and their Hospice Stories section.

You can also talk with your doctor about hospice, and/or talk with the staff at one of the local hospices in your area. You should be able to find them listed on the Web or in the yellow pages of a phone book. Local hospitals may have their own hospices or be able to refer you to one as well.

My Personal Hospice Experience

My mom was diagnosed with COPD back in December 2005. Although she went on oxygen, for a couple of years, she still seemed pretty healthy. Then, in February of 2007, she developed pneumonia and was hospitalized. At that time, her doctor suddenly referred her to hospice, telling us it was not just for dying patients (which is not really true).

At that point in time, neither mom or I was prepared to think of her as imminently terminal, but we accepted hospice and they initiated services that seemed more like traditional homecare than anything else. Unfortunately, about 6 weeks later, mom’s femur broke and hospice was cancelled so she could have the leg surgically repaired.

2007 was a rough year, with 5 hospitalizations in total. On the 4th one, we thought we were going to lose Mom, but by 2008, she was on the mend and over the next year got better and better, often not really even needing her oxygen. Hospice was a distant memory.

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Towards the end of 2009, Mom’s breathing started to gradually worsen and I started wondering how much longer she could go on. But she soldiered on, adapting to every little change. Her current doctor talked about hospice when Mom started to ask questions about what the end would be like, but it still didn’t seem like time.

Then, in early November of 2011, Mom just suddenly decompensated, breathing-wise, and had to be hospitalized. Within a week, the doctors decided her lung deterioration was so far advanced, there was nothing more to be done, and started to prepare her to come home to die, which is what Mom wanted so badly.

A hospice referral was initiated, and they helped us with the whirlwind of preparation to bring Mom home on 12 LPM of oxygen (2 concentrators!), a CPAP machine, and kinds of other equipment and medication. It felt like we were setting up an at-home hospital room.

Mom came home on her birthday, and it was a joyful day for her, though also exhausting and with a few scary moments for both her and me. The hospice nurse spent 4 hours with us, getting us situated and setting up support services for the future. I was grabbing that lifeline, as the thought of being chained to my home 24/7 (Mom couldn’t be left alone) was pretty overwhelming and terrifying.

We thought we had at least 3 months to prepare and deal with the dying process. But Mom had other ideas. She passed away early the next morning. In the end, all that the hospice team was able to do for us was set things up and then to come out and pronounce her so that we didn’t have to call the police or coroner. Those things were great, but there is so much more hospice could have done for us, had there been more time.

So, our experience was that first we got hospice way too early and then in the end, way too late.

If you are starting to sense that your life is coming to a close, at least start thinking about hospice and what it can do for you and yours. Don’t wait until the end is right there before you take action!

How to Become a Hospice Worker

Hospice workers care for patients who are terminally ill and typically have less than six months to live. Each patient is seen by several professionals who make up the hospice team, including nurses, aides, physicians, social workers and chaplains. All hospice careers require employees to be licensed, certified or otherwise recognized as experienced in their occupation. New hires receive special training on topics such as handling patient loneliness and dealing with patient or family fears.

Hospice jobs usually don’t require candidates to have volunteer or internship experience in a hospice, but having it provides a foundation of knowledge and may impress future employers. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization notes that volunteers are considered employees and receive training on general hospice topics, such as goals, services and philosophies. According to the Hospice Foundation of America, some hospices have minimum age requirements for volunteers, but they all try to find a spot for those interested. Volunteers may help in areas like child care assistance, family support or administration.

Hospice nurses are certified by the National Board for Certification of Hospice and Palliative Nurses, which issues credentials in several specialties, including pediatrics and perinatal loss care. The basic certification — Certified Hospice and Palliative Nurse — requires candidates to hold an unrestricted and current registered nurse license. The NBCHPN also offers the Certified Hospice and Palliative Nursing Assistant credential to aides who have finished a minimum of 2,000 practice hours supervised by a registered nurse within the past two years.

After completing medical school and residency requirements, and passing the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination, physicians must obtain licenses where they want to practice. According to the Center to Advance Palliative Care, physicians gain certification to work in hospices by undergoing a yearlong fellowship and passing an exam administered by the American Board of Medical Specialties.

According to the National Association of Social Workers, social workers can obtain hospice certification with a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and social worker license, and after completing a minimum of three years working under supervision in hospice and palliative care. The Center to Advance Palliative Care notes that social workers with a bachelor’s degree can apply to be Certified Hospice and Palliative Social Workers, while those with a master’s can apply to be Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Social Workers.

The General Council of the Assemblies of God’s Chaplaincy Department notes that there aren’t any universal qualifications for hospice chaplains it approves, but that chaplains must meet individual employers’ requirements. It says that desired prerequisites may include a minimum of a bachelor’s degree, a credential from the Assemblies of God, ministry experience and completion of a Clinical Pastoral Education course. Chaplains can also obtain certification through the Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc. upon meeting certain requirements, such as a minimum of three years of experience working in hospice and palliative care.

Hospice volunteer duties and requirements.

The most important requirement for hospice volunteering is a willingness to help. Our volunteer managers can work with you to find the right opportunity to fit your interests or skills. Simply fill out a hospice volunteering application, and we’ll find the perfect fit. Volunteers do not administer medications or perform any nursing duties. The following explains more about volunteer requirements and how to volunteer for Crossroads Hospice.

What are the requirements for hospice volunteers?

Crossroads Hospice offers several types of opportunities for volunteering along with the flexibility to donate as much or as little time as you want. Hospice volunteer duties vary for companionship, special projects, office, and bereavement. A volunteer manager can provide you with details.

What kind of training will I receive? Before becoming a Crossroads Hospice Ultimate Giver, you will receive specialized training. We use a team approach for training to create an immediate connection to the program.

How to volunteer for hospice.

All hospice volunteers must follow these requirements:

Complete the initial application

Provide information about your health, physical limitations, etc.

You will need to sign consent forms.

You will be required to have a Tuberculosis (TB) test performed. This will be done free of charge.

It is a requirement that hospice volunteers wait a minimum of one year after the death of an immediate family member or loved one.

Hospice care is covered under a number of health insurance plans. It is important to know what services are covered under each plan and what out-of-pocket expenses you will have to pay.

Medicare

Medicare Part A has a generous hospice benefit that covers most hospice services for the terminal illness. For example, if a patient has terminal cancer and suffers a hip fracture, the services below are covered to provide palliative (comfort) care for the cancer but not to treat the hip fracture. The patient would need to use his or her Medicare benefit to cover the care needed for the hip fracture.

The Medicare hospice benefit covers the following:

Physician services

Nursing care

Medical equipment

Medical supplies

Medication for pain relief and symptom control

Short-term care in a hospital

Respite care (up to five days at a time)

Physical, occupational and speech therapy

Home health aide and homemaker services

Social work services

Dietary counseling

Bereavement services

For the covered services listed above, the patient pays the following:

Up to $5 for each prescription for out-patient medications or similar products for pain relief and symptom control

Five percent of the Medicare payment for in-patient respite care

The following services are not covered under the Medicare Hospice Benefit:

Treatment to cure the terminal illness

Care from another provider that was not arranged by your hospice

Care from another provider that is the same as the care available at your hospice

Room and board, if you live in a private residence, assisted living facility, or nursing home. If, however, a patient is admitted to a hospital or nursing home under the in-patient level of care, room and board may be covered.

Note: For more information on the Medicare Hospice Benefit, the publication “Medicare Hospice Benefits” can be downloaded (PDF). You may also call 1-800-633-4227 to order Medicare publications.

Periods of CareA patient may receive hospice services for as long as the doctor certifies that he or she is terminally ill and that, if the illness runs its normal course, the life expectancy is less than six months. Medicare authorizes hospice care in periods of care. A hospice patient may be certified by the doctor for two 90-day periods, followed by an indefinite number of 60-day periods. The first period of care starts when the patient begins to receive hospice care. At the end of each period, if the patient is still in need of hospice care, the doctor must recertify the patient for another period of care.

Medical Assistance (Medicaid)

The Medical Assistance Program (also called Medicaid) pays for a variety of services for individuals with low income. To be eligible for any service funded by the Medical Assistance Program, an individual must meet the financial requirements.

Forty-seven states, including Maryland, cover hospice care under their Medical Assistance programs. In Maryland, the coverage under Medical Assistance is virtually the same as under Medicare, except that the hospice patient may be certified by the doctor for two 90-day periods, followed by an indefinite number of 30-day periods. Medicare and Medical Assistance pay the hospice directly for services. The hospices are paid a daily rate based on the level of care the patient receives each day.

Other Insurance

Department of Veterans Affairs In Maryland, the Department of Veterans Affairs has inpatient hospice beds at its Perry Point Facility. The Veterans Administration has a description of this service on their web site, as well as information on VA eligibility, enrollment and benefits.

Private Insurance Most private health insurance plans cover hospice. Private insurers generally use a “fee for service” model, meaning the hospice programs either bill the insurance company for each service rendered, or they bill the patient who must submit the bills to the insurance company. Coverage and payment levels differ. Many insurance plans have a lifetime ceiling for hospice benefits. Be sure to check your policy carefully. Private insurers will not approve payment benefits for all agencies so you may not have a choice of which agency will provide care.

Uninsured PatientsIf a patient has no insurance coverage, or if insurance does not cover all costs, the hospice will work with the patient and family to develop a payment plan. Most programs have funds to provide financial assistance for low-income and uninsured patients.

How to Become an Addiction Counselor

By eHow Careers & Work Editor ; Updated July 05, 2017

How to Become an Addiction Counselor. Addictions counselors help people overcome dependencies with alcohol, drugs and gambling. Counselors work with individuals, groups or the families of addicts. They refer their clients to doctors, social services and support groups, and they may help their clients during legal proceedings. Here’s how to become an addiction counselor.

Complete the appropriate training in your state to become an addictions counselor. Requirements may include a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Psychology or Social Work; a certificate or associates degree in addictions counseling; completion of an internship; passing a state licensing exam and being free of drugs, alcohol and other addictions. Again, all of these requirements boil down to the state you live in–call a treatment center in the state you’re interested in working in–they (and your college guidance counselor) can give you an idea of the classes you’ll need to take.

Pursue the following electives in college, as they will help you as an addictions counselor: Therapy and Counseling; Psychology; Sociology and Anthropology; Customer and Personal Service; Education and Teaching; English Language; Philosophy and Theology; Administration and Management; and Law and Government. Of course, as mentioned in Step 1, every state has different requirements in order to become a state-certified counselor–double and triple check with your college guidance counselor every step of the way when choosing your classes.

Hone your skills in the following areas. Communication: You must express yourself clearly, listen to others and understand and ask questions. Reasoning and problem solving: You should notice when something is not right, identify potential problems, offer solutions and think of creative ways to solve problems. Working with people: Modify your approach based upon the way a person reacts to your counseling, always look for ways to help others, use persuasion to convince others to try different problem-solving techniques and solve problems by bringing others together to discuss their differences.

Tip

Unfortunately, problems such as alcoholism and drug addiction are not going away soon. The outlook for this career is positive. Some areas of the United States have seen double-digit increases in the need for addiction counselors.

Fatty foods may cause cocaine-like addiction

Cheesecake and other fatty foods overload the pleasure centers in the brain.

Brains of rats that gorged themselves on human fatty foods changed

Dopamine appears to be responsible for the behavior of the overeating rats

Findings could lead to new treatments for obesity

(Health.com) — Scientists have finally confirmed what the rest of us have suspected for years: Bacon, cheesecake, and other delicious yet fattening foods may be addictive.

A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction, the study found.

Doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D. an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida. Eventually the pleasure centers crash, and achieving the same pleasure–or even just feeling normal–requires increasing amounts of the drug or food, says Kenny, the lead author of the study.

People know intuitively that there’s more to [overeating] than just willpower, he says. There’s a system in the brain that’s been turned on or over-activated, and that’s driving [overeating] at some subconscious level.

In the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, Kenny and his co-author studied three groups of lab rats for 40 days. One of the groups was fed regular rat food. A second was fed bacon, sausage, cheesecake, frosting, and other fattening, high-calorie foods–but only for one hour each day. The third group was allowed to pig out on the unhealthy foods for up to 23 hours a day.

Not surprisingly, the rats that gorged themselves on the human food quickly became obese. But their brains also changed. By monitoring implanted brain electrodes, the researchers found that the rats in the third group gradually developed a tolerance to the pleasure the food gave them and had to eat more to experience a high.

They began to eat compulsively, to the point where they continued to do so in the face of pain. When the researchers applied an electric shock to the rats’ feet in the presence of the food, the rats in the first two groups were frightened away from eating. But the obese rats were not. Their attention was solely focused on consuming food, says Kenny.

In previous studies, rats have exhibited similar brain changes when given unlimited access to cocaine or heroin. And rats have similarly ignored punishment to continue consuming cocaine, the researchers note.

The fact that junk food could provoke this response isn’t entirely surprising, says Dr.Gene-Jack Wang, M.D. the chair of the medical department at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, in Upton, New York.

We make our food very similar to cocaine now, he says.

Coca leaves have been used since ancient times, he points out, but people learned to purify or alter cocaine to deliver it more efficiently to their brains (by injecting or smoking it, for instance). This made the drug more addictive .

According to Wang, food has evolved in a similar way. We purify our food, he says. Our ancestors ate whole grains, but we’re eating white bread. American Indians ate corn; we eat corn syrup.

The ingredients in purified modern food cause people to eat unconsciously and unnecessarily, and will also prompt an animal to eat like a drug abuser [uses drugs], says Wang.

The neurotransmitter dopamine appears to be responsible for the behavior of the overeating rats, according to the study. Dopamine is involved in the brain’s pleasure (or reward) centers, and it also plays a role in reinforcing behavior. It tells the brain something has happened and you should learn from what just happened, says Kenny.

Overeating caused the levels of a certain dopamine receptor in the brains of the obese rats to drop, the study found. In humans, low levels of the same receptors have been associated with drug addiction and obesity, and may be genetic, Kenny says.

However, that doesn’t mean that everyone born with lower dopamine receptor levels is destined to become an addict or to overeat. As Wang points out, environmental factors, and not just genes, are involved in both behaviors.

Wang also cautions that applying the results of animal studies to humans can be tricky. For instance, he says, in studies of weight-loss drugs, rats have lost as much as 30 percent of their weight, but humans on the same drug have lost less than 5 percent of their weight. You can’t mimic completely human behavior, but [animal studies] can give you a clue about what can happen in humans, Wang says.

Although he acknowledges that his research may not directly translate to humans, Kenny says the findings shed light on the brain mechanisms that drive overeating and could even lead to new treatments for obesity.

If we could develop therapeutics for drug addiction, those same drugs may be good for obesity as well, he says.

Why Become a Professional Counselor?

What is Counseling?

Counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.

This definition of counseling was developed by the 20/20 Delegates in March 2010.

Professional Counseling as a Career Choice

What is professional counseling? Counseling is a professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families, and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career goals.

People have many different reasons for deciding they want to become a counselor. Some people choose this career because they once had a good experience with a counselor during a difficult time in their own life and they want to pay it forward. Another person may have done some volunteer work at a crisis hotline and realized that they enjoyed both the challenges and joys of working with clients facing difficult times. Yet another person may have been told that they are a good listener and they ought to consider working as a mental health professional.

I have always desired to become a counselor since I was five years old. I have always loved helping people A wonderful lady in our community who worked in the counseling field was instrumental in encouraging me to follow my dreams. -Barbara Mceuen

Whatever the reasons, individuals that choose to seek a career in counseling usually have one thing in common a desire to help people work through life s challenges. Some individuals want to work primarily with children or teens. Others prefer to work with adults. Some want to work in specific settings, such as K-12 schools or college campuses. Others prefer to work in a community setting such as a mental health center or private practice setting.

Counseling can offer the right individual a rewarding career path in a health profession that is growing. It requires a strong desire to interact with people, exceptional communication skills, and an ability to complete a graduate degree. Choosing to become a professional counselor is a commitment to yourself, to others, and to society as a whole.

But choosing to become a counselor is just one of the choices that prospective students must make. Student will need to consider all of the different specializations in counseling with their varying work environments. School counselors work in K-12 educational environments (schools), while clinical mental health counselors may work in private practice, a hospital setting, or some other community agency.

Follow these links to learn more about the field of Counseling and the job outlook for counselors.

If you are already a professional counselor, please share with us your reasons for becoming one. Follow the link to the Contact Us site and choose Why I became a counselor in the contact type. We will feature these on this section of the website in the future.

AdWords Management: What it Takes to Run a Successful AdWords Campaign

Building an AdWords account from scratch is labor intensive enough to send even the most capable business owner into a panic.

Actually managing an AdWords account is another beast entirely.

AdWords managmement using AdWords alone—which doesn’t provide any assistance with proper campaign structure, bidding strategy, or ad copy optimization—can quickly become overwhelming without the right guidance.

In some cases, that guidance might come from software that makes keyword research, determining the right campaign structure, and strategic bidding more manageable; in others, it can mean outsourcing the work to more experienced digital marketers.

Regardless of which option you’re interested in pursuing, WordStream offers a solution. Our software makes AdWords management simple and efficient; it streamlines tedious, time-consuming work, allowing you to focus on your business. Looking for a hands-off approach? Our in-house managed services team is chock full of veteran digital marketers who can unsink ships and build profitable accounts from scratch.

To give you a better idea of exactly how much work is required to maximize ROI for your pay-per-click campaigns, let’s take a look at the fundamentals of AdWords account management. They can be organized into three high-level categories: experimentation, optimization, and growth.

AdWords Management: Experimentation

Adapt to Your Audience

It’s unlikely that you should be paying for clicks from every person on the planet. Demographics, physical location, and timing all play a role in determining exactly who you should be marketing to. Constantly test new targeting methods (and pairing them with appropriate messaging).

Align Your Value Proposition Sales Funnel

AdWords allows you to target prospects at any point in the sales funnel. Someone searching for “running shoes” conveys less intent to buy than someone searching for “Men’s Asics Ghost size 12.” Aligning your value proposition (the thing you’re offering in exchange for information or a sale) to the intent of the query is key.

Always Be Testing (Everything)

A/B testing (comparing two versions of an ad or landing page to determine which one performs better) is a never finished! If you don’t have two pieces of copy active in every ad group, if you aren’t trying new landing pages, your account performance will stagnate.

AdWords Management: Optimization

Structure Matters

Organization is the key to AdWords optimization: without well-laid plans and a coherent account structure. improvement is impossible. You wouldn’t build an addition onto a home with a crumbling foundation. Strategically crafting tightly-knit ad groups of semantically similar keywords ensures improved Quality Score and lowers costs.

Strategic Bid Management

In AdWords account management, setting initial bids is easy: managing them can be a pain. Knowing when to value position and how to maximize Quality Score and ROI is imperative. Know where your money is going and get the most out of your spend by making the right bids.

Know Your Competition

Through third-party tools, or simply Googling the keywords you’re bidding on, you can get an idea of your competition. Knowing what you’re up against is the best way to tailor your ad copy. Don’t blend in with the rest of the SERP: stand out!

AdWords Management: Growth

Leverage The Power of Remarketing

When you’re driving thousands of clicks to your website, not every single one will convert. Remarketing allows you to strategically alter your offering, tailoring it to audiences who have taken specific actions on your website. Marketing to new audiences is valuable: nurturing prospects familiar with your brand is even better.

Display: The Internet’s Cost-Effective Answer to Billboards

While the Search Network is great for granular targeting, Display is the perfect way to expose new prospects to your brand and, more importantly, introduce them to the top of your sales funnel. With options that allow you to serve ads across more than 2 million websites (and Gmail inboxes), Display is the next logical step after optimizing your AdWords campaign.

Expanding onto More Platforms

Once you’re happy with your AdWords account’s performance, it’s time to look for new platforms on which to advertise your products or services. Bing and Facebook are the logical next-steps, but both platforms are just as nuanced as AdWords. Knowing how to make the leap in a measured way is central to avoiding wasted spend and garnering more leads.

11/10/2017

11:26

How does seller financing work in a home sale?

I’ve been looking for an affordable house, which is no easy task given my moderate income and slightly messed up credit record. I noticed an ad for a house that says “Seller financing available!” What does this mean, and can it help me?

Answer

You may want to look into this further. In rare cases, a seller will agree to loan a buyer part or all of the money to buy the property. The seller’s motivation may be to create an incentive to buyers who can’t borrow enough from a bank or commercial lender to buy the house. Or the seller’s reasons may be tax related, since financing your purchase would allow the seller to spread out the income from the sale over a number of years.

Seller financing can be carried out in one of two ways.

The first is for the seller to “take back” a mortgage on the house. You, the buyer, sign both a promissory note (promising to repay the loan) and either a mortgage or a deed of trust (allowing the seller to foreclose if you fail to pay). In return, the seller signs a deed transferring title to you. Because you hold the title, you can sell the house or refinance. But you must keep making the agreed-upon payments to the seller.

The second and less popular possibility is for the seller to keep title to the property for as long as it takes you to pay off the loan. The contract you and the seller sign is known by various names, including “contract for deed,” “contract of sale,” “land sale contract,” or “installment sales contract.”

It works like this: The contract states that the seller will keep title to the property until you pay off the loan. (You normally pay the loan off in a series of regular payments, similar to a standard mortgage.) After you pay off the entire loan, the seller signs a deed transferring title to you. Because the seller keeps the title over the life of the loan, you cannot sell or refinance the property until all payments are made and the title is transferred — an obvious reason for the unpopularity of these contracts.

WinZip File Sharing Services

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WinZip first contributed to this evolution by providing our customers with world-leading file compression technology. For over 20 years, WinZip’s zipping power helped millions of users around the world create smaller files that are much easier to transfer and store.

As technology has evolved, so has WinZip’s commitment to making file sharing better. Not only do we make your files smaller and easier to share, but today we offer new features that integrate seamlessly into email, cloud services and social media sites. Now WinZip lets you connect with OneDrive , Dropbox, Google Drive , Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for worry-free sharing, anywhere.

Learn more about how to boost your file sharing power with WinZip services that integrate seamlessly with our existing products.

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iPhone 5S – Performance and battery life

iPhone 5S – Performance

The iPhone 5S is a significant step up in terms of power and performance over the iPhone 5. The new A7 dual-core 1.3GHz processor with 1GB of RAM sounds feeble when compared to the quad-core 1.9GHz 2GB RAM of the Galaxy S4 or stonking 2.2GHz of the Sony Xperia Z1. But phones are not top trumps and the processor on the iPhone 5S is hugely impressive, even though it looks much weaker on paper.

The benchmarks support the experience. Only the Snapdragon 800 processor on the Xperia Z1 outperforms the iPhone 5S. In our CPU, browsing and graphics tests the 5S scored 40% faster than the Galaxy S4 and more than 100% faster than the iPhone 5, the phone it replaces.

It’s impressive and just goes to show that picking the right phone is not about looking at the numbers anymore, just like picking a camera that takes great pictures isn’t about how many megapixels it’s packing.

For a full breakdown of tests and results you can view our iPhone 5S benchmarks at the end of this review.

The first 64-bit phone processor

But before you do it’s worth taking the time to think about the ‘world first’ Apple claimed in making the A7 chip the first 64-bit mobile processor. The transition to 64-bit computing on the PC took a long time. A fragmented system ensured it was years before the benefits were felt in the home, and those who jumped to 64-bit early found that all the software they wanted to use wasn’t ready yet.

Fast-forward a few years and 64-bits on the PC has become the norm and Apple has added the A7 SoC (system on chip) processor to the iPhone 5S, making it the first 64-bit phone.

While the debate about its benefits right now is fearsome, it does have some small benefits (emphasis on the small) that will no doubt grow in future. The encryption side of the Touch ID is the most obvious benefactor, though arguably games will begin to benefit once developers start to unlock the full potential of the A7 chip.

But it’s really a move for the future that means that developers can get busy supporting 64-bit now when it’s less critical so that its true potential can be unlocked on future iPhones and iPads. If you want to find out more about the iPhone 5S processor and 64-bit computing then read our guide: What is 64-bit? The Apple A7 chip explained .

Of greater import to the here and now is the new, much less powerful ‘co-processor’ chip called the M7. The purpose of the M7 is to deal with all the motion capture data provided by the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass. This data requires much less processing power to manage, which means using the main processor is overkill and seriously inefficient.

So the M7 helps lighten the load on the battery, but it also has one more important power saving trick up its sleeve.

If you leave the iPhone 5S in a location where there’s no signal, a gym locker for example, the M7 will recognise that the phone has not been moved and that there is no signal in the area. Pinging the networks constantly to find signal is one of the biggest battery drains on a phone and there’s no point doing it if there’s no signal to be found.

This particular feature only works when the phone is immobile, but it’s not the only benefit of the M7. For example, It allows to the iPhone 5S to know when you switch from a car or walking, switching the directions to suit, but it could also open a whole new set of possibilities for third-party accessories to use its specialist processing. The likes of the Nike Fuelband, Fitbit Flex and similar gadgets seem the most likely benefactors, but we’ll have to wait and see how they use it.

iPhone 5S – Battery Life

One of the few issues the iPhone 5 had was a limited battery life. In this area the Samsung Galaxy S4 trounced it. Apple has tried a few things to improve battery life on the iPhone 5S, like including the M7 processor, but to varying degrees of success.

The most obvious resolution would be a bigger battery. This poses a problem for Apple as the iPhone 5S shares the same chassis as the 5, so there’s not a lot of additional space to play with. Regardless it has managed to increase the size from 1440mAh to 1560mAh, about 8%.

Together with the touted iOS 7 efficiency improvements and processor efficiencies we did notice that the iPhone 5S outlasts the iPhone 5.

We got between nine and 10 hours of mixed usage, including streaming video, gaming, browsing, calls, taking pictures and video and listening to music.

Impressively steaming, 720p video at half screen brightness seemed to tax the battery very little, with only 3% disappearing in half an hour. Playing music stored locally using the included Earpods at high volume saw of a 4% drop in 30 mins. Gaming, particularly intensive 3D games such as Real Racing 3 and Infinity Blade 3, sapped juice at a steady, but reasonable, rate while 3G browsing was the other main drain.

Used normally we managed to make the battery last for a day and a half before requiring a charge, better than the iPhone 5.

Unfortunately the iPhone 5S is still not on a par with the Android big boys. The Samsung Galaxy S4 outlasts it by some margin and the removable cover offers the ability to switch batteries if you’re really desperate and very well organised.

On the other hand the iPhone 5S is much smaller and lighter, allowing the option of adding a power-pack case without it becoming too cumbersome. These can be pricy though and ruin the sleek design somewhat.

So, while it’s an improvement on the iPhone 4/4S/5 in this regard, it does feel as if Apple has chosen to ignore serious improvements in this area. It’s ‘good enough’ for the large majority, but if there’s an area it cedes noticeable ground to the competition, it’s here.

T-SQL Programming Part 1 – Defining Variables, and IF. ELSE logic

Whether you are building a stored procedure or writing a small Query Analyzer script you will need to know the basics of T-SQL programming. This is the first of a series discusses defining variables, and using the IF. ELSE logic.

This is the first of a series of articles discussing various aspects of T-SQL programming. Whether you are building a stored procedure or writing a small Query Analyzer script you will need to know the basics of T-SQL programming. This first article will discuss defining variables, and using the IF. ELSE logic.

Local Variables

As with any programming language, T-SQL allows you to define and set variables. A variable holds a single piece of information, similar to a number or a character string. Variables can be used for a number of things. Here is a list of a few common variable uses:

To pass parameters to stored procedures, or function

To control the processing of a loop

To test for a true or false condition in an IF statement

To programmatically control conditions in a WHERE statement

More than one variable can be defined with a single DECLARE statement. To define multiple variables, with a single DECLARE statement, you separate each variable definition with a comma, like so:

Here is an example of how to use the SELECT statement to set the value of a local variable.

One of the uses of a variable is to programmatically control the records returned from a SELECT statement. You do this by using a variable in the WHERE clause. Here is an example that returns all the Customers records in the Northwind database where the Customers Country column is equal to ‘Germany’

IF. ELSE

T-SQL has the “IF” statement to help with allowing different code to be executed based on the results of a condition. The “IF” statement allows a T-SQL programmer to selectively execute a single line or block of code based upon a Boolean condition. There are two formats for the “IF” statement, both are shown below:

Format one: IF condition then code to be executed when condition true

Format two: IF condition then code to be executed when condition true ELSE else code to be executed when condition is false

In both of these formats, the condition is a Boolean expression or series of Boolean expressions that evaluate to true or false. If the condition evaluates to true, then the “then code” is executed. For format two, if the condition is false, then the “else code” is executed. If there is a false condition when using format one, then the next line following the IF statement is executed, since no else condition exists. The code to be executed can be a single TSQL statement or a block of code. If a block of code is used then it will need to be enclosed in a BEGIN and END statement.

Let’s review how “Format one” works. This first example will show how the IF statement would look to execute a single statement, if the condition is true. Here I will test whether a variable is set to a specific value. If the variable is set to a specific value, then I print out the appropriate message.

The above code prints out only the phrase “The number is 29”, because the first IF statement evaluates to true. Since the second IF is false the second print statement is not executed.

Now the condition statement can also contain a SELECT statement. The SELECT statement will need to return value or set of values that can be tested. If a SELECT statement is used the statement needs to be enclosed in parentheses.

Here I printed the message “Found A-D Authors” if the SELECT statement found any authors in the pubs.dbo.authors table that had a last name that started with an A, B, C, or D.

So far my two examples only showed how to execute a single T-SQL statement if the condition is true. T-SQL allows you to execute a block of code as well. A code block is created by using a “BEGIN” statement before the first line of code in the code block, and an “END” statement after that last line of code in the code block. Here is any example that executes a code block when the IF statement condition evaluates to true.

Above a series of “PRINT” statements will be executed if this IF statement is run in the context of the master database. If the context is some other database then the print statements are not executed.

Sometimes you want to not only execute some code when you have a true condition, but also want to execute a different set of T-SQL statements when you have a false condition. If this is your requirement then you will need to use the IF. ELSE construct, that I called format two above. With this format, if the condition is true then the statement or block of code following the IF clause is executed, but if the condition evaluates to false then the statement or block of code following the ELSE clause will be executed. Let’s go through a couple of examples.

For the first example let’s say you need to determine whether to update or add a record to the Customers table in the Northwind database. The decision is based on whether the customer exists in the Northwind.dbo.Customers table. Here is the T-SQL code to perform this existence test for two different CustomerId’s.

The first IF. ELSE logic checks to see it CustomerId ‘ALFKI’ exists. If it exists it prints the message “Need to update Customer Record”, if it doesn’t exist the “Need to add Customer Record” is displayed. This logic is repeated for CustomerId = ‘LARS’. When I run this code against my Northwind database I get the following output.

As you can see from the results CustomerId ‘ALFKI’ existed, because the first print statement following the first IF statement was executed. Where as in the second IF statement CustomerId ‘LARSE’ was not found because the ELSE portion of the IF. ELSE statement was executed.

If you have complicated logic that needs to be performed prior to determining what T-SQL statements to execute you can either use multiple conditions on a single IF statement, or nest your IF statements. Here is a script that determines if the scope of the query is in the ‘Northwind’ database and if the “Customers” table exists. I have written this query two different ways, one with multiple conditions on a single IF statement, and the other by having nested IF statements.

As you can see I tested to see if the query was being run from the Northwind database and whether the “Customers” table can be found in sysobjects. If this was true, I printed the message “Table Customers Exists”. In the first example I had multiple conditions in a single IF statement. Since I was not able to determine which parts of the conditions in the IF statement where false the ELSE portion printed the message “Not in Northwind database or Table Customer does not exist”. Now in the second example where I had a nested IF statement I was able to determine whether I was in the wrong database or the object “Customers” did not exist. This allowed me to have two separate print statements to reflect exactly what condition was getting a false value.

I hope that this article has helped you understand how to declare and use local variables, as well as IF. ELSE logic. Local variables are useful to hold the pieces of information related to your programming process. Where as the IF statement helps control the flow of your program so different sections of code can be executed depending on a particular set of conditions. As you can see nesting IF statements and/or having multiple conditions on an IF statement allows you to further refine your logic flow to meet your programming requirements. My next article in this T-SQL programming series will discuss how to build a programming loop.

05/10/2017

06:55

How to Become a Sound Engineer

Sound engineers may be known as recording or audio engineers. The specific responsibilities of these different titles may vary. Sound engineers run live shows like concerts and plays, record and produce in the studio, and work sound systems for radio, TV, and film crews. To become a sound engineer, find a sound engineer to watch, help out, and take any chance to work with sound equipment you can get. Earning a degree may help you get a job as a sound engineer. You should be flexible, have strong people skills, and persevere through setbacks.

Steps Edit

Method One of Three: Acquiring Hands-On Experience Edit

Watch sound engineers work. Go to a local bar or club that has live music, or the booth at a theater during a play, and watch what the sound person does. Pay attention to the set up of cords and sound boards. Watch how they interact with people. Take note of when they adjust levels and what the result is. [1]

Lots of churches have high quality sound systems and people who run them, so this is also a great place to go for an opportunity to watch.

Ask sound engineers if you can help in any way. The music industry involves a lot of making connections and getting your foot in the door. Once you find a sound engineer, ask if there is anything you can do, even if it just means taping cables down. You can start to build these connections, which may eventually lead to more involvement. [2]

Some people may tell you no. Maybe they don’t want you in the way. You can be persistent and tell them you’ll do anything and won’t bother them. Still, there’s a time to give up and find someone else to ask.

If you are at a venue and you see people setting things up, ask if you can help. They will most likely welcome another set of hands.

Take any opportunity you can get. This is an industry that takes a while to work up the ranks into top professional jobs. If you have the opportunity to carry in sound equipment, do it. Maybe sometime you will get to help set everything up. Then you may get to run a sound check. Every chance you get to learn a little more is a building block for your career. [3]

Even though it can be hard, don’t think you are too good for anything. Just swallow your pride and take the chance to help out and get some experience.

If you consistently show up at the same places and you are always willing to help in any way you are asked, people will start to notice and may trust you to do more important tasks.

Intern at a recording and production company. More than helping out at gigs, an internship will help you get more consistent experience. You may have to go unpaid for a while, but if you can afford to do this, you will learn enough to make up for the lack of pay. Find out if there is a studio near you and see what types of opportunities they have available.

Since there are so many different jobs that sound engineers can have, the range of internships may vary a lot. Any production company that has internships available is worth checking out, even if what they do is not exactly what you are interested in.

02/10/2017

22:46

What Happens To Cord Blood Stem Cells After 20 Years of Storage

Companies have only started to store cord blood for the last 20 to 25 years or so, and for cord tissue a bit less than this. Given this limited time frame of those working in the field, there is no data on how well blood or tissue stores beyond 20 years. Studies have found, however, that cord blood may be able to be stored indefinitely at liquid nitrogen temperatures (-196 degrees Celsius), and there is no evidence that it degrades over time. Research conducted by one of the foremost experts on cord blood stem cells shows that after 23.5 years of storage, there was no degradation in the cord blood samples. In terms of payments, after 20 years of storage you can prepay $1999 for another 20 years of storage. It’s common to think of the payment process like life insurance. If you pay for the initial storage and cancel after 20 years, it’s like canceling life insurance early just because you’re still living.

Studies have found, however, that cord blood may be able to be stored indefinitely at liquid nitrogen temperatures (-196 degrees Celsius), and there is no evidence that it degrades over time.

Our Quality Promise

Americord is of the highest quality in cord blood and cord tissue storage. We believe in and follow all of the best practices for cord blood and cord tissue collection and storage. These include the following:

FDA

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State guidelines

Federal guidelines and applicable licenses

Not only are our practices safe, but we also use the only commercially available FDA-approved sterile exterior cord blood bag that is on the market and the fastest medical courier. Using these quality methods and materials, we have been able to collect up to twice as much as other cord blood banks and industry standards. A larg er amount of stem cells opens up the possibility to treat larger patients or expand treatment options for smaller patients.

Learn more about the differences and benefits of cord blood banking and cord tissue banking to know what’s best for your family plan.

Home Insurance Article

Renter’s Insurance 101

According to Statistics Canada, less than half of renters in Canada have renter’s insurance 1 (also known as tenant or contents insurance).

We often think of home insurance as protecting the big stuff—like pipes, appliances, and the physical structure of the home or building. If you are renting, your landlord may have his or her own insurance policy to cover these kinds of items. But their insurance will not cover your personal belongings, such as furniture, jewellery, or entertainment equipment. Your landlord’s insurance will also not protect you if someone is injured on your property.

That’s where renter’s insurance comes in. Renter’s insurance will help you replace these possessions in the event of a loss or damage due to a covered risk. Speak to an Advisor to see how we can tailor your insurance to fit your needs.

Let’s start by understanding the importance of liability insurance.

Accidents happen and sometimes those accidents can be quite costly.

For example, a candle in your apartment could cause a fire. If that candle affects other units, you may be deemed responsible to pay for damages to your rental unit.

Or, if someone trips and falls in your apartment, you could be held financially responsible for the cost of medical expenses and lost wages.

Liability insurance could protect you in the event of a lawsuit, and help you cover the cost of any damages.

Next you need to understand a few basic terms:

All-Risk insures your building and contents for losses due to the widest range of perils (or risks), unless specifically excluded from your policy like intentional damage

Personal Liability insurance protects you for unintentionally injuring someone or damaging their property and have to pay damages (example: someone has a slip and fall on your walkway, breaks his/her leg and now cannot work for a period of time)

Contents Insurance covers your belongings (including when you travel) for losses resulting from the most common types of perils (or risks) up to a specified amount

Replacement Cost Coverage means that the contents of your home are insured for the amount it costs to replace them without depreciation

Additional Living Expenses Coverage will help you pay for reasonable and necessary expenses (like hotel and food costs) in the situation you are forced to leave your home following an insured peril (or risk) for a period of time

02/10/2017

06:00

Embed Google Map – Add Google Maps to your Website

About Google MapsGoogle Maps is currently the most popular, as well as the most effective mapping service available on the internet. In addition to providing a detailed mapped image of the entire world, the service is also capable of providing directions to any destination and can even calculate the shortest or the least expensive travel route. Google Maps is also a constantly evolving application, and users are able to provide suggestions, make corrections, and even design 3D structures for the Google Maps extension known as Google Earth. Finally, the service can be used at no cost by general users, and Google has actually gone as far as offering free access to the Google Maps API. However, there are also several enterprise solutions available, designed specifically for business-oriented applications.

Early Days of Google MapsEven though Google Maps has become one of the staple products of Google, the original idea and the computational foundation of the service was first developed by two brothers from Denmark: Lars and Jens Rasmussen. However, the mapping application conceived by the Rasmussen brothers at their start-up Where 2 Technologies was to be distributed as a piece of downloadable software. In 2004, after trying to create various mapping systems from scratch, Google began to show real interest in the brother’s project. In 2004, after discussions with the company’s technical and marketing staff, Lars and Jens Rasmussen made two very important decisions: to sell their Where 2 Technologies start-up to Google Inc. and become Google project managers, and to revamp their software application into an interactive online service called Google Maps.

Google Maps can be created with a simple application on our website. It simply requires that you enter the address of the location and click on the button to generate the link. When the process is complete, the link can be copied and pasted into the website. This process is helpful for all types of websites including projects that incorporate storytelling with maps. Here are some tips that you should know:

1. Google Maps Integrate Satellite ImageryGoogle Maps also incorporates the use of satellite imagery to provide users with greater detail of the area. The street view is amazingly accurate and precise. This was made possible by Google’s vans that acquire information by driving roads and also by acquiring panoramic photos. Users can get maps of and driving directions to almost any location around the world.

2. Expand Map Functionality with APIsGoogle will make its Advanced Programming Interfaces (APIs) available for free to the public. This expands the functionality of the maps and allows users to embed the information into a website easily. Google Earth API embeds the three-dimensional digital globe into the web page. These webpages can be marked with location pins or marked with images. Directions, elevations, time zones, and distances can also be embedded in maps.

3. Google Maps Integrated User ReviewsThe goal of Google Maps is to give users the most functionality.The maps can be used on mobile phones and also on tablets. The user reviews are integrated into the local map views, and users can quickly get information and opinions about local hotels and restaurants.

4. Plan Routes with Commercial Airline DataIf you want to know more about planning a route with the commercial airlines, you can also use Google Maps. This application will provide access to schedules and daily itineraries using train and routes. User thumbnails are included to give pictorial information from each of Google’s Photo Tours.

5. Google Maps Offers Accurate Driving DirectionsUsers can save and print the directions. Step-by-step instructions makes it easier to travel from one destination to another. Most drivers love text messages because it’s easier to read everything right on the device.

Google Maps is the Way To GoIf you want directions, you should use Google Maps. This is one of the most convenient ways to get your directions and read them while on-the-go. You don’t have to print them out. You can simply store them on the phone and pull the directions up when you travel. It’s a recommended way to travel. Try the new Google Maps application. You’ll be happy you did!

Why to Embed Google Map on Your SiteIf you have ever been trying to figure out how to get from one place to another, you have probably used Map. You can punch in your starting destination and your ending destination and get a trip route, complete with directions. If you just want to look up a location, you can use the Map to look at the street view, giving you an interactive image of exactly what you will see from the street, when you get there, so that you know what to expect.

However, this is far from all that you can do with Maps. You can also embed a map on your website so that visitors can see it. This is going to look like an image at first, but people can click on it and move it around, and then they will realize that it is generated by Google Maps. It is far more than a simple image. This can be done on almost any type of website, so the real question is this: How can having one of these interactive images from Google Maps help your site?

First of all, it can be hugely beneficial because it is far more useful than just writing down your address. Even though the local streets are very familiar to you, your site’s visitors do not know anything about them. Just putting down the name and building number does not tell them much about where you are really located, which is what they are wondering if they are trying to find your store or your business. By using an image from Google Map, you allow them to scroll around and look for familiar roads, or they can look at the street view and really get a feel for where your building is located. This provides the accurate information that these people are looking for.

Another benefit of using the image from Google Map is that people can use it to get directions right to your front door. They can just put in their own address, with yours already set as a waypoint, and the map will tell them how to get there in seconds. This can help you because people will not have to call you for more information; the embedded Google Map can handle all of that for you.

At the end of the day, what the embedded Google Map are giving people who visit your site is convenience. You are making it easier for them to learn what they need to learn and to get to your physical location. You are taking steps out of the process that they would have needed to take on their own, and that can increase business and customer satisfaction.

01/10/2017

03:26

How to kick someone off Xbox Live IP Stresser

How to use an ip stresser to boot someone off Xbox Live.

This guide will show you how to easily find an ip address through Xbox live. Once you get the ip from the victim you can do a lot of things with it from using it with an ip stresser to boot them offline to using a geo ip tool to find out where the victim lives. When you use a ddos tool to boot them offline you are basically just sending a whole bunch of traffic until the victims router can no longer bear the load, thus effectively cutting out the victims internet. For this guide i will mainly be teaching you how to get the ip and how to ddos it. You will need an ip stresser to do the actual ddosing and all free ip stressers are terrible. I suggest checking out Network Stresser as it is currently the best ip stresser around. Enjoy!

Getting the ip with Cain and Abel

First connect to Xbox live then head over to http://www.oxid.it/ then click on the Projects link at the top of the page. Next find the Cain and Abel link and download the SECOND link. Once it is downloaded follow the installation prompts until it asks you to download WinSCP. You will need to install WinSCP to have Cain and Abel run properly.

Next you will need to run Cain and Abel as an administrator which will prompt an error about features not working but don t worry all is well. After the program should pop up and look like this:

Once we re at the launch screen click the tab named Sniffer . Next we want to click the little icon next to the folder on the top left shown in the picture below.

Next you will want to click the blue plus sign on the screen. Now after you click the blue cross icon you will be prompted by a box named Mac Address Scanner which will look like this:

Check the radio button All hosts in my subnet and press ok which will start the program and begin scanning mac addresses. You will see a lot of things pop up on the screen. We are looking for the OUI Fingerprint tab which will show Microsoft Corporation DO NOT use this ip on your ip stresser as it is owned by Microsoft. Next to that will be an ip address, copy and paste it somewhere as we will need this soon. Also remember that the first ip will almost always be 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1.

Next click the APR tab on the bottom of the program, it will look like this:

After clicking APR we want to click the blue plus sign again and select that ip; either 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 and on the next box select the Microsoft Corporation ip address we saved earlier. Then click the nuclear symbol to stop the program and start grabbing ip addresses. Now you will start to see some ip addresses on your screen. Next we have 2 choices:

1. Get the ip of the host of the game it will be the ip with the most packets going into it.

2. Be in the same party with the person you are trying to boot and it will be the ip that isn t your own.

Once we have the ip address head over to http://networkstresser.com I f you don t already have a plan with them i suggest buying one as they re currently the best ip stresser on the market at the time of me writing this.

Login to Networkstresser.com go over to the hub page enter the ip address as well as the time and method. You should try port 80 first if it doesn t work try the Xbox live port which is 3074.

Hit that launch button and enjoy!

In conclusion this guide has shown us how to get ip addresses of people on Xbox live and how to use an ip stresser to boot them offline. Before you use an ip stresser you should always have a VPN a lot of ip stressers are targets of hack attempts and have their databases leaked. It is always best to be using a VPN online to stay anonymous. My favorite VPN is http://anonymousvpns.com. it s cheap and works great. Thanks for reading!

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What is the meaning of the meta tag keywords – meta name keywords

Over 80% of all online proceedings start with a search query. You browse to a search engine and you will fill out certain keywords that match what you are looking for. That’s why it’s so important to put relevant and correct keywords in your meta tags in the source of your web-page.

meta name= keywords content= text

Some people will try to make you believe the meta description and the meta keywords will not help your ranking at all. They are missing a important SEO criteria. Not only will for example google show your description tag but if you use an attractive line or text, more people will click on your listing. And that will give you a better CTR. And CTR is one of the important things for your ranking.

Search engines like Google show meta tags in their search results. You perform a search task by filling out:

How do you make sure that your website is found on internet if you fill out certain keywords? You use the KEYWORDS tag.

More than 80% of the people that search for a website fill out more than 1 keyword

meta name= keywords content= text

Example how to use the meta keywords tag

Read how to use this meta name keywords tag. Add the following meta-tags in the HTML source of your web-page.

meta name= keywords content= meta, metatags, meta tag, meta tags, submit, search engines, spiders, sites, submit site, search engine submit, website, submit website, add meta tags, find website, be found on internet, keywords, keyword It’s very important that you add the keywords you want your site to be found under in your KEYWORD tag. If a search engine spider finds the same words on your website and in your meta tags, these words will be ranked higher in the search index. Don’t add too many words, the most search engines will only index the first 20 words. Make sure that you put the 10 most important keywords first. Try to give each page of your website a relevant title, description and keywords that correspond with the text on your website. A visitor will find the exact information within your website, on the correct page.

Where should you add this keyword tag?

You may add the keyword tag in all of your web-pages, so not only in the first index page. Make sure that on every page relevant keyword tags are added. Add keywords that are relevant and correspond with the text on that specific page. It might be a lot of work to add specific meta tags to each page but you will notice in time that it works!

Meta tags Summary – Important SEO things to remember

We suggest that you use the Meta tags in your index.htm or index.html page. Than in all other important pages and last but not least in all the pages of your website. Make sure to put some extra effort in it, it will attract more visitors to your web-page. Create relevant and different meta tags for each and every page.

Read why meta tags are important and how they affect the search engines.

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28/09/2017

06:50

How to Remove Grease Stains from Leather

Kelli asked: How do I clean butter from leather boots? I dripped melted butter onto my leather boots and can t get it off. Can you help?

Grease and oil stains can be tricky to remove from leather. The residue left behind seems to leave a permanent mark. Use the method below to draw the grease out of the leather and remove the stain for good.

You Will Need:

Talcum powder or another absorbent powder

Lint free soft cloths (microfiber cloths work well)

Steps to Remove the Stains:

Blot the stain with a microfiber cloth. Remove as much of the grease as possible.

Cover the stain liberally with talcum powder or another absorbent powder, such as cornstarch or wheat germ.

Allow the powder to sit on the stain overnight. The powder will draw the grease and moisture out of the leather.

In the morning, brush off the powder and the stain will be gone.

Additional Tips and Advice

Similar to the grain of wood, leather has a lie or a line of texture to it. If possible, apply any cleaning products following the lie. If you can t see the direction of the texture, work from the outside of the stain towards the center.

If the leather is not protected, the grease will soak in and will be nearly impossible to remove completely. Treating the stain immediately is your best bet for any chance of removing the stain. Once set, you may be able to lighten it with the method above.

If the leather has a protective finish on it, a water-based leather cleaner should remove the stains. Apply the cleaner following the package guidelines.

For stubborn or serious grease stains, a leather degreaser can be used. Follow the instructions on the label of your selected product.

Once clean, apply a stain guard to the leather surface. This will allow for easier clean up and stain removal for future spills.

How to Become a Certified Coding Specialist

Should I Become a Certified Coding Specialist?

A certified coding specialist. also referred to as a medical coder or health information technician, is a medical professional responsible for overseeing patient records and ensuring bills are paid properly and on time. These medical professionals work as intermediaries who are in contact with the insurance company, billing office and health clinic. They work at hospitals, physicians’ offices, government organizations and nursing care facilities. They spend long periods sitting at desks, on computers. Most coding specialists work full-time and need to serve overnight and weekend shifts.

Certified coding specialists have associate’s degrees in medical billing and coding, and they earn certification through the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA). They are detail-oriented professionals with good communication and analytical skills and the ability to use medical software programs.

According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the annual median salary for medical records and health information technicians, which includes certified coding specialists, was $37,110 in 2015.

Find schools that offer these popular programs

Health Care Administration

Health Information and Records Admin

Health Information Technology

Health Management and Clinical Administration

Health Unit Coordinator

Health Ward Supervisor

Medical Administrative Assistant or Secretary

Medical Claims Examiner

Medical Facilities Management

Medical Insurance Billing and Coding

Medical Insurance Services

Medical Office Computer Technologies

Medical Office Management

Medical Office Specialist

Medical Receptionist

Medical Staff Services

Medical Transcriptionist

Steps to Be a Coding Specialist

Many coding positions seek individuals with an associate’s degree in medical billing and coding. Courses provide knowledge in medical terminology, reimbursement methods, pathophysiology and commonly used coding systems, including CPT and ICD-9. Students are also taught the details of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well.

Step 2: Gain Work Experience

While work experience is not a requirement to become certified, obtaining 2-3 years of work experience is also highly recommended. Hospitals, clinics, physicians’ offices and insurance companies are common work environments for medical coders. Individuals enrolled in a degree program also have the opportunity to enroll in an internship to gain hands-on training and some recommended work experience.

Step 3: Pursue Certification

The AHIMA oversees the certification exam for aspiring coding specialists. It offers several certification designations, including the Certified Coding Specialist (CCS) and the Certified Coding Specialist-Physician-based (CCS-P). The CCS is geared towards hospital-based coding professionals. Both tests consist of two parts, including multiple-choice questions and patient-case scenarios for medical coding. Both the CCS and the CCS-P exams test on ICD-9 and CPT coding systems. The CCS-P also includes testing on the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS).

Step 4: Take Continuing Education Courses and Renew Certification

The BLS reported that health information technicians (which include certified coding technicians) need to regularly renew their certification and take continuing education classes. The AHIMA offers seminars, conferences and webinars that provide beneficial experiences for certified coding specialists and meet these requirements. CCSs and CCS-Ps must complete at least 30 continuing education units (CEUs) like these every certification cycle, as well as pay a renewal fee. CEUs are completed through college courses.

Step 5: Consider Pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree

Coding specialists looking to pursue promotional opportunities may need a bachelor’s degree in health administration or a related field, so coding specialists should keep that option open to them if they wish to advance.

Certified coding specialists have associate’s degrees and certification. They use medical software programs while overseeing and updating patient records, and they earn a median annual salary of $37,110.

Next: View Programs

Diploma Program – Medical Billing and Coding Specialist

Certification – Medical Billing and Coding Specialist

EdD in Organizational Leadership – Health Care Administration

MBA: Health Systems Management

MS in Health Care Administration

Master of Public Administration – Health Care Management

MS in Health Care Informatics

MS in Nursing: Health Care Informatics

BS in Health Care Administration

BS in Health Sciences: Professional Development & Advanced Patient Care

28/09/2017

01:28

How Can I Become a Data Modeler?

Research what it takes to become a data modeler. Learn about job duties, education requirements, job outlook and salary to find out if this is the career for you. Schools offering Cloud Computing degrees can also be found in these popular choices.

What is Data Modeler?

Data modelers design computer databases that help bankers, scientists and other professionals organize data in computer systems. They then use these databases to run statistical analysis and extract meaning full information. This information is written up in reports that are presented to business executives, lead researchers or other employers. Learn more about this job, including career preparation, outlook and earning potential, in the table below.

Education Field of Study

Management information systems or other computer-related field

Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, **PayScale.com

What Do Data Modelers Do?

Data modelers organize data in a way that makes databases easier to access. To accomplish this, data modelers often work with data architects to create the best applicable database design or structure for a system. They analyze and identify the key facts and dimensions to support the system requirements. Additional duties include restructuring physical databases, managing data, reorganizing database designs, and maintaining data integrity by reducing redundancy in a system.

What Skills Do I Need?

To work as a data modeler, you need to be familiar with the different types of data models. These models explore the domain, concepts of the domain, and the internal make-up of databases involving tables and charts.

Since you must alter various database designs and domains, you need to be familiar with basic modeling tools such as ERWIN or Embarcadero. You also need to have knowledge of database computer language, SQL, and have some experience implementing Oracle or Terandata database systems.

How Can I Prepare?

While there are no specific degree requirements for this position, employers prefer candidates who have technical aptitude rather than a specific degree. In order to gain a deeper knowledge of database structures, algorithms and programming languages, students should focus on a degree that offers coursework in information technology, computer science or programming.

How Much Will I Make?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, all types of computer occupations – including data modelers – should see 12% job growth from 2014-2024 (www.bls.gov ). PayScale.com reported that the median salary for data modelers was $82,385 per year in 2017.

What Are Some Related Alternative Careers?

Actuaries use statistics, finance theories and financial data to analyze the financial risks of business decisions and help come up with solutions to reduce those risks. Professionals in this profession often hold a bachelor’s degree in statistics, mathematics or actuary science. Computer systems analysts examine a companies computer system, with the objective of finding solutions to problems or ways to make systems more efficient. They typically have a bachelor’s degree in a computer-related field.

26/09/2017

18:06

Facts and Case Summary – Morse v. Frederick

Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. __, 127 S. Ct. 2618 (2007) School authorities do not violate the First Amendment when they stop students from expressing views that may be interpreted as promoting illegal drug use.

Facts

Joseph Frederick, a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School, unfurled a banner saying “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” during the Olympic Torch Relay through Juneau, Alaska on January 24, 2002. Frederick’s attendance at the event was part of a school-supervised activity. The school’s principal, Deborah Morse, told Frederick to put away the banner, as she was concerned it could be interpreted as advocating illegal drug activity. After Frederick refused to comply, she took the banner from him. Frederick originally was suspended from school for 10 days for violating school policy, which forbids advocating the use of illegal drugs.

Procedure

The U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska ruled for Morse, saying that Frederick’s action was not protected by the First Amendment. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed and held that Frederick’s banner was constitutionally protected. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari.

Issues

Whether a principal violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment by restricting speech at a school-supervised event when the speech is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use.

Ruling

Reasoning

In Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), the Court stated that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Tinker held that the wearing of armbands by students to protest the Vietnam War was constitutionally protected speech because it was political speech. Political speech is at the heart of the First Amendment and, thus, can only be prohibited if it “substantially disrupts” the educational process.

On the other hand, the Court noted in Bethel v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675, 682 (1986) that “the constitutional rights of students at public school are not automatically, coextensive with the rights of adults.” The rights of students are applied “in light of the special characteristics of the school environment,” according to the U.S. Supreme Court in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260, 266 (1988).

In the present case, the majority acknowledged that the Constitution affords lesser protections to certain types of student speech at school or school-supervised events. Finding that the message Frederick displayed was by his own admission not political in nature, as was the case in Tinker, the Court said the phrase “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” reasonably could be viewed as promoting illegal drug use. As such, the state had an “important” if not “compelling” interest in prohibiting/punishing student speech that reasonably could be viewed as promoting illegal drug use. The Court, therefore, held that schools may “take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can reasonably be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use” without fear of violating a student’s First Amendment rights.

Concurrences

Justice Thomas

Justice Clarence Thomas concurred with the majority, but argued that, instead of making exceptions to the holding in Tinker, Tinkershould be overturned. Citing various scholarly sources on the history of public education, Justice Thomas argued that the First Amendment was never meant to protect student speech in public schools.

Justices Alito and Kennedy

Justices Alito and Kennedy concurred with the majority, but were careful to note that the majority’s decision was at the outer parameters of constitutionally protected behavior. These justices were concerned that the majority’s decision permitting the suppression of speech promoting illegal drug use could be used to punish those advocating constitutionally permissible, but unpopular, political ideas, e.g. legalizing medicinal marijuana use.

Concurrence and Dissent

Justice Breyer

Justice Stephen Breyer argued that the majority did not need to decide this case on its merits, but could have decided it on the basis of the doctrine of “qualified immunity.” Qualified immunity prevents government officials, such as a school principal, from being sued for actions taken in their official capacities. This protection is in place as long as the legality of the conduct is open to debate. Since Justice Breyer argued that it was not clear whether Frederick’s speech was constitutionally protected, Morse was entitled to qualified immunity. This decision would demonstrate judicial restraint, i.e. not having a court decide a larger issue if deciding a smaller issue could dispose of the case.

Under current Supreme Court precedent, issues of qualified immunity cannot be decided unless a Court first determines that a constitutional violation occurred. Justice Breyer took the position that this precedent should be overturned. Since the majority decided that no constitutional violation occurred, it did not address the issue of qualified immunity.

Dissent

Justice Stevens

Justice John Paul Stevens took the position that the school’s interest in protecting students from speech that can be reasonably regarded as promoting drug use does not justify Frederick’s punishment for his attempt to make an ambiguous statement simply because it refers to drugs. Justice Stevens made several points in his dissent. First, he argued that prohibiting speech because it advocates illegal drug use, unless it is likely to provoke the harm sought to be avoided by the government, violates the First Amendment because it impermissibly discriminates based upon content. Second, even if the school had a compelling interest to prohibit such speech, Frederick’s banner was so vague that a reasonable person could not assume that it advocated illegal drug use. Finally, the dissent took issue with the majority’s justification that the speech could “reasonably be perceived as promoting drug use” because the constitutionality of speech should not depend on the perceptions of third parties.

26/09/2017

05:25

Recent confirmation of vast new mineral deposits. an estimated trillion dollars worth spread in all parts of war-torn Afghanistan. has sparked interest in conducting a comprehensive aerial geological survey in Pakistan .

Significant deposits of copper and gold (Saindak and Reko Diq in Balochistan), zinc and lead (Lasbella, Balochistan), a new gas field (Nawabshah, Sind) and coal (Tharparkar, Sind) have been confirmed in recent years by Geological Survey of Pakistan and Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation in collaboration with mining firms from Australia, China and other nations. Reko Diq alone has estimated reserves of two billion tons of copper and 20 million ounces of gold. The value of the deposits has been estimated at about $65 billion. Based on preliminary data. a nation-wide aerial survey can be helpful in finding significant additional mineral resources in Pakistan.

The conventional exploration methods historically used by geologists have essentially relied on sturdy boots, picks, hammer, shovels, binoculars, an all-weather writing pad and a geographical map of the area to be explored. Advanced remote sensing technology. with gravity, magnetic and hyper-spectral sensors, used by American geologists in Afghanistan flying in US Navy’s P3 Orion submarine-hunter aircraft and WB-57 high-flying spy planes has now transformed this process of geological resource mapping. This was at least partly motivated by the lack of roads and dangerous security situation that currently exists on the ground in Afghanistan.

Dr. John Brozena, the Chief Scientist of US Naval Research Laboratory, participated in the Afghan aerial prospecting missions. He described the effort to Ira Flatow, the host of NPR Science Friday. as follows:

” There were two separate (Afghan) airborne surveys during 2006. Ours was in a P-3, a naval aircraft, a research-configured P-3, and our was at sort of 20,000 to 30,000 feet. The second aircraft, equipped with different sensors, was flown at about 50,000 feet. That was the WB-57.

So there’s information from several programs between those two aircraft. But what you need to think about when you’re looking for all these minerals or thinking about all these minerals is that geologists fuse information from every source that they can get.

So a great deal of this information came from old Soviet maps. You may have heard that the workers within the Afghan Geological Survey, during the time of the Taliban occupation or control of the country, hid the maps that were made during the Soviet period and brought them forward and gave shared them with U.S. Geological Survey, who then worked with us and the WB-57 folks to put together airborne surveys to supplement the on-the-surface maps.

And so when you’re thinking of how you would go about looking for all these minerals or finding them, it’s really a combination of every piece of information you can integrate, and we’ve contributed to one part of that.

our sensors system – and we had a very large group of sensors on the P-3, these I should mention these are former submarine chasers. It was their primary function in the Navy at the time, and the Naval Research Laboratory and its – the Navy Scientific Development’s Squadron 1, VXS-1, have a couple of P-3s that are stripped out of all their military hardware, all the sensors for submarine warfare, and all the weapons systems have been removed. And they’ve been turned into research trucks that can carry lots of different kinds of equipment.

We had gravity, magnetics, hyper-spectral let’s see, what else.

A gravity sensor detects variations in mass, local mass variations, which could be either density or amount, like a mountain. And so if you take a topographic map and try to remove the topographic variations, you’re left with a good estimate of the density variations in the earth beneath you.

And that’s related to both the combination of geologic structure and the materials that are in the area, and that’s one type of remote sensing. It’s not definitive. You have to calibrate against some ground truth. You have to integrate that information with other things. But knowing the regional densities and density variations tells you quite a lot of information.

The gravity is used primarily for sedimentary basins, looking for oil and gas, as opposed to minerals. You’ve been hearing in the newspaper about minerals possibly in Afghanistan.

The gravity sensor is more appropriate and it was onboard the aircraft looking for sedimentary basins. And in fact, we there were known sedimentary basins around Afghanistan, and what we did was define their extent and their geometries. And there are a couple that look fairly perspective, that the USGS is working on, trying to come up with estimates of potential oil and gas within Afghanistan. And they may have a fair amount of gas and even perhaps a bit of oil.

the gravity does contribute something, because if it gives you the real – the regional geologic context, the folding and faulting and things like that that are important for mineralization.

Then the next primary sensor that would be used would be the magnetics, which, from its sound, detects the variation in the magnetic field locally, around space. And that tells you about a lot about the minerals or the materials that are in the area.

It there’s different amounts of magnetic field that are associated with different types of materials, and in combination with the gravity and the ground truth, again, it’s a good way to do initial searches for either likely areas for minerals or direct detection.

In the case of something like iron ore, it has a huge magnetic signature directly, and so you can actually see the extent of an ore deposit if you get close enough to it.

One of the problems we had was flying at 20,000 to 30,000 feet. We’re a long ways away from some of those things, so their signatures are attenuated. But in the case of a very large ferrous metal deposit, it’s you still pick up signatures.

Well, hyper-spectral imaging, if you think of a normal camera as dividing the visual spectrum into three colors, red, green and blue, and then mixing them to make the various colors that you see on a photograph, a hyper-spectral imager divides into many more colors, essentially, many more bands.

The one that we were using on the P-3 divided visual range plus a little bit of the infrared into 72 bands. And so you’re looking for emissions, or lack of emissions within each of those bands. And those are diagnostic of, again, materials. But the thing here is you’re looking only at the surface. It’s you can only see what’s on the surface with any type of imaging like that, and.

It’s continuing. Rampant Lion is a developmental project at the Naval Research Laboratory that’s not particular to platform or sensors. It’s a way to put together multiple sensors on whatever platform’s appropriate for a particular problem.

So we’ve operated in Colombia, in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re hoping to operate in the future with other countries, as well, and we have quite a lot of interest in different places in Africa and.

The “other countries” referred to Dr. Brozena apparently include Pakistan, at least according an April 2010 story in Pakistan’s Business Recorder newspaper.

Quoting “reliable sources”, the Pakistani paper reported on April 2, 2010, that “Pakistan has turned down United States (US) offer of aerial geological survey to explore natural reserves due to security concerns”. The story said that the “US was explicably not ready to share the data with Pakistan collected through aerial geological survey. Pakistan has accepted Chinese assistance to conduct a comprehensive scientific geological survey of Pakistan, which will be helpful in exploring oil, gas and mineral reserves. According to sources, Defence Ministry has supported the proposal to involve Chinese Geological Survey (CGS) for geosciences co-operation”.

As Pakistanis hope to discover new mineral wealth by renewed focus on exploration, I think it is important to remind everyone that Pakistan’s most important resource is its people. While the country’s anticipated deposits of iron, copper, cobalt, zinc, lead, gold, oil, gas and coal can help generate significant revenues, it is important to ensure that the bulk of additional new revenue is invested in education and healthcare to develop the nation’s human resources for its future well-being.

How to successfully recover data from a failed RAID

Recovering data from a failed RAID can easily turn into a costly ordeal. Please read this page carefully before proceeding. If you would like to get help from experts, please consider using our fee-based RAID recovery service.

First determine whether the RAID is hardware-based or software-based. The recovery procedures are very different.

Recovering a hardware RAID

First determine if the problem is caused by the underlying RAID mechanism. If it is not, follow the simpler recovery procedures for an ordinary drive. The following causes of problem are not related to the RAID:

Virus attacks.

The volume being deleted, resized, reformatted or otherwise changed in Disk Manager or other disk management utilities.

If the problem seems to be in the RAID mechanism, determine the operating state of the RAID and take the appropriate actions.

Avoid the most common mistakes that may cause data to become unrecoverable.

Hardware RAID operating states

Current status is normal.No controller or disk errors.No recent change in RAID configuration.

RAID is displayed as a single disk.Volume configuration has not been changed (screenshot ).

Volume is inaccessible or accessible with missing files.

RAID mechanism is operating normally .Problem may be unrelated to RAID.

RAID is displayed as a single disk.No drive letter or unformatted volume (screenshot ).

RAID is displayed as a single disk.Volume has been deleted, reformatted, resized (screenshot ).

RAID is displayed as a single disk.Disk Manager is not aware of degradation (screenshot ).

Volume is accessible

RAID is degraded due to a disk failure

Current status is normal.RAID failed and was rebuilt unsuccessfully.

RAID is displayed as a single disk (screenshot ).

Volume is inaccessible or accessible with missing files.

Current status is normal.RAID settings have been changed.

Current status is normal.Disks have been reconfigured and disk order may have changed.

Abnormal RAID status such as “offline”, “inactive”, “undefined”, etc.There may be disk or controller hardware errors.

RAID is not displayed. Sometimes the individual member disks are displayed as unformatted disks (screenshots ).

Volume is inaccessible.

Recovering a software RAID

First determine if the problem is caused by the underlying RAID mechanism. If it is not, follow the simpler recovery procedures for an ordinary drive. The following causes of problem are not related to the RAID:

Virus attacks.

The volume being reformatted.

If the problem seems to be in the RAID mechanism, determine the operating state of the RAID and take the appropriate actions.

How is Chemotherapy Used to Treat Cancer?

Chemotherapy is the use of any drug to treat any disease. But to most people, the word chemotherapy means drugs used for cancer treatment. It s often shortened to chemo.

Surgery and radiation therapy remove, kill, or damage cancer cells in a certain area, but chemo can work throughout the whole body. This means chemo can kill cancer cells that have spread (metastasized) to parts of the body far away from the original (primary) tumor.

Goals of chemotherapy treatment

If your doctor has recommended chemotherapy to treat your cancer, it s important to understand the goals of treatment when making treatment decisions. There are three main goals for chemotherapy (chemo) in cancer treatment:

Cure

If possible, chemo is used to cure cancer, meaning that the cancer is destroyed it goes away and doesn t come back.

Most doctors don t use the word cure except as a possibility or intention. So, when giving treatment that has a chance of curing a person s cancer, the doctor may describe it as treatment with curative intent.

There are no guarantees, and though cure may be the goal, it doesn t always work out that way. It often takes many years to know if a person s cancer is really cured.

Control

If cure is not possible, the goal may be to control the disease. Chemo is used to shrink tumors and/or stop the cancer from growing and spreading. This can help the person with cancer feel better and live longer.

In many cases, the cancer doesn t completely go away. but is controlled and managed as a chronic disease, much like heart disease or diabetes. In other cases, the cancer may even seem to have gone away for a while, but it s expected to come back. Then chemo can be given again.

Palliation

Chemo can also be used to ease symptoms caused by the cancer. This is called palliative chemotherapy or palliation.

When the cancer is at an advanced stage, meaning it s not under control and has spread from where it started to other parts of the body, the goal may be to improve the quality of life or help the person feel better. For instance, chemo may be used to help shrink a tumor that s causing pain or pressure.

It s important to know that any treatment that s used to reduce symptoms or improve comfort is called palliative care . For example, anti-nausea treatments or pain medicines are palliative, and can be used at all stages of treatment. It can be confusing when chemo is used as a palliative treatment, because it s most often used to try to cure or control the cancer. But when it s used with the goal of comfort, chemo becomes palliative care.

Planning chemotherapy treatments

You and your cancer doctor, called an oncologist, will decide what drug or combination of drugs you will get. Your doctor will choose the doses, how the drugs will be given, and how often and how long you ll get treatment. All of these decisions will depend on the type of cancer, where it is, how big it is, and how it affects your normal body functions and overall health.

Cancer can be treated with a single chemo drug, but often several drugs are used in a certain order or in certain combinations (called combination chemotherapy). Different drugs that work in different ways can work together to kill more cancer cells. This can also help lower the chance that the cancer may become resistant to any one chemo drug.

Sometimes chemo is the only treatment you need. More often, chemo is used with surgery or radiation therapy or both. Here s why:

Chemo may be used to shrink a tumor before surgery or radiation therapy. Chemo used in this way is called neoadjuvant therapy.

It may be used after surgery or radiation therapy to help kill any remaining cancer cells. Chemo used in this way is called adjuvant therapy.

It may be used with other treatments if your cancer comes back.

Determining which chemotherapy drugs to use

In some cases, the best choice of doses and schedules for each chemo drug is clear, and most doctors would recommend the same treatment. In other cases, less may be known about the single best way to treat people with certain types and stages of cancer. In these cases, different doctors might choose different drug combinations with different schedules.

Doctors take these factors into account, along with information published in medical journals and textbooks describing the outcomes of similar patients treated with chemo.

Determining chemotherapy doses

Most chemotherapy (chemo) drugs are strong medicines that have a fairly narrow range for dose safety and effectiveness. Taking too little of a drug will not treat the cancer well and taking too much may cause life-threatening side effects. For this reason, doctors must calculate chemo doses very precisely.

Depending on the drug(s) to be given, there are different ways to determine chemo doses. Most chemo drugs are measured in milligrams (mg).

The overall dose may be based on a person s body weight in kilograms (1 kilogram is 2.2 pounds). For instance, if the standard dose of a drug is 10 milligrams per kilogram (10 mg/kg), a person weighing 110 pounds (50 kilograms) would get 500 mg (10 mg/kg x 50 kg).

Some chemo doses are determined based on body surface area (BSA). which are calculated using height and weight. BSA is expressed in meters squared (m 2 ).

Because children s bodies process drugs differently, dosages for children and adults differ, even after BSA is taken into account. Children may have different levels of sensitivity to the drugs, too. For the same reasons, dosages of some drugs may also be adjusted for people who:

Are elderly

Have poor nutritional status

Are obese

Have already taken or are currently taking other medicines

Have already had or are currently getting radiation therapy

Have low blood cell counts

Have liver or kidney diseases

Determining a chemotherapy schedule (cycle)

Chemotherapy is commonly given at regular intervals called cycles. A cycle may be a dose of one or more drugs followed by several days or weeks without treatment. This gives normal cells time to recover from drug side effects. Sometimes, doses may be given a certain number of days in a row, or every other day for several days, followed by a period of rest. Some drugs work best when given continuously over a set number of days.

Each drug is given on a schedule that makes the most of its anti-cancer actions and minimizes side effects. If more than one drug is used, the treatment plan will say how often and exactly when each drug should be given. The number of cycles given may be decided before treatment starts, based on the type and stage of cancer. In some cases, the number is flexible, and will take into account how the treatment affects the cancer and the person s overall health.

Changing chemotherapy doses and schedules

In most cases, the most effective doses and schedules of drugs to treat specific cancers have been found by testing them in clinical trials . It s important, when possible, to get the full course of chemo, the full dose, and keep the cycles on schedule. This gives a person the best chance of getting the maximum benefit from treatment.

There may be times, though, when serious side effects require adjusting the chemo plan (dose and/or schedule) to allow you time to recover. Sometimes, you might be given supportive medicines to help your body recover more quickly. Again, the key is to give enough chemo to kill the cancer cells without causing other serious problems.

To learn more

We have a lot more information that you might find helpful. Explore www.cancer.org or call our National Cancer Information Center toll-free number, 1-800-227-2345. We re here to help you any time, day or night.

References

Fuchs-Tarlovsky V. Role of antioxidants in cancer therapy. Nutrition. 2013;29(1):15-21.

Why We re the Best

Experience like no other. Repairing and constructing over 7,000+ foundations. We know homes.

There are a lot of companies offering foundation repair in the Los Angeles area. How do you know which one is best? We believe experience should be the deciding factor. Julian Construction was formed in 1994, and our focus has always been on building foundations, doing repair, replacement, earthquake retrofitting and house leveling. We have inspected over 16,500 foundations .

If you also talk to another foundation contractor, ask how long they have been doing foundation repair. Not how long they have been in business. But how long they have been doing foundation work. There are some contractors in the LA area who have been doing foundation work for a year or less. Would you trust the safety of your home to them?

When the safety of your home and family are at stake, we think you ll want to go with Julian, the company that has been working under homes for nearly 20 years.

Best value. Our affordability comes from the efficiency of expertise and smooth-running crews. All equipment and vehicles are company owned. Julian Construction also offers 0% financing .

22/09/2017

16:23

Why You Should Buy Disney Stock Now

The new year has arrived, and many investors are re-engaged and looking for new stocks to buy for 2015. While there are certainly a lot of great companies and exciting stocks to choose from, I believe there is one above all that you should go out and buy today.

And that s Walt DisneyCo (DIS).

Disney stock is sitting just below all-time highs, but it s poised to go even higher this year. Here s why.

Why Disney Stock Is Great to Own

When you buy Disney stock, you are buying an extremely diversified company that not only operates in a number of different areas, but realizes incredible synergies in those areas.

These synergies essentially all begin with the Studio Entertainment division. Disney produces a new film, which (depending on its success) can then leverage the success of a franchise of characters to the other divisions of the company through merchandise in its Consumer Products division, new attractions and rides with its Parks and Resorts division, and even new TV shows within its Media Networks division.

But the power of Disney s diversification doesn t stop with its synergies. The company has amazing brands cash cows with wide moats.

For instance, the ESPN franchise is the clear leader in sports reporting and entertainment, while other networks like ABC and The Disney Channel are huge, successful players in television. The Media segment, which the aforementioned units all fall under, accounted for 43% of the company s $48 billion in revenue last year.

Meanwhile, Disney Parks and Resorts, which accounted for 31% of revenues, has its footprints all over the world and is a leader in the theme park industry.

While Disney s strong brands are a great argument for growth, the company does put a little bit of cash back into shareholders hands via dividends. DIS recently increased its annual payout from 86 cents per share to $1.15 a 34% increase that follows a 15% increase in 2013. While that translates into just a 1.1% yield currently, you may see a better yield on cost in the future all told, Disney s dividend has improved 187.5% in just the past five years.

Why You Should Buy Disney Stock Now

If Disney so clearly is a solid investment for the long term, why is it so important to buy today?

All of Disney s major divisions will likely keep on pumping out cash and growing at a healthy rate, but the studio division has the potential to post staggering numbers in 2015. In 2014, Disney s Studio Entertainment division accounted for 15% of the company s revenue (22% higher than the year before) and 12% of operating income (more than double the previous year). And this occurred in a relatively weak year for Disney movies.

However, 2015 is unlikely to go without a few blockbusters. Disney is slated to release a new iteration of Cinderella, a new Marvel Avengers film, a lesser-known Marvel comic character film, a Steven Spielberg Cold War spy thriller and two Pixar films, not to mention the latest from the mother of all franchises, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The revenues strictly from these new films will help boost Disney stock in the coming year, not to mention how DIS should be able to leverage their success in 2015 and beyond.

Bottom Line

With so many potential blockbuster movies set to be released in 2015, Disney should continue to rise over the next year, barring some unforeseen disaster.

But don t just buy Disney stock now for what it can do for you in 2015. Buy it for what it should do for five, 10, 15 years ahead as it reaps the reward of its own virtuous media-merchandising cycle.

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Queens Foreclosure Lawyers

Foreclosure defense in Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Nassau County. Our legal team will help you Stay in Your Home .

Poltielov Habib, LLP is a foreclosure defense and bankruptcy law firm servicing clients in Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island, Manhattan, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester Counties. Our New York lawyers offer personalized legal representation to our clients to achieve the best results possible. We take pride in our work and strive to achieve the most for our clients.

If you have been served with a notice of foreclosure by your bank or have been served with a summons and complaint, a Queens foreclosure defense lawyer at Poltielov Habib, LLP may be able to help you. Foreclosure is a very stressful and daunting process, but you do not have to lose your home. Our foreclosure defense lawyers will take the time to explain the process of defending you in your foreclosure. By consulting a foreclosure attorney at our firm as soon as possible, you can fully understand your options and fight to stop foreclosure.

Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Nassau County Bankruptcy Lawyers

Our Bankruptcy Attorneys will take the time to explain the process of filing for bankruptcy, and our low fees make it possible for most people to file and get a fresh start. Our Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Lawyers can eliminate debt, stop collections, stop wage garnishment, stop the eviction process, stop foreclosure, and get rid of old IRS debt as well as judgments. Most people file Chapter 7 bankruptcy to get rid of credit card debt and medical bills, and are surprised to learn that the benefits of filing extend far beyond wiping out that debt. Filing Bankruptcy is usually a great step towards re-building credit.

Our Chapter 13 bankruptcy attorney can immediately stop your foreclosure, eliminate your debt, stop collections, and eliminate [strip] a second lien, if possible. Filing a Chapter 13 is usually the best way to stop a foreclosure and save your home. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy can often achieve a more favorable forbearance and/or re-instatement agreement, as long as you can afford to keep paying the mortgage and get caught up on missed mortgage payments.

Future Value Annuity Calculator to

This free online Future Value Annuity Calculator will calculate how much a series of equal cash flows will be worth after a specified number years, at a specified compounding interest rate.

Plus, this online annuity calculator will calculate future value for either an ordinary annuity, or an annuity due, and display an annual growth chart so you can see the growth on a year-to-year basis.

If you are not sure what future value is, or you wish to calculate future value for a lump sum, please visit the Future Value of Lump Sum Calculator.

What is “Annuity?”

An annuity is defined as a series of equal cash amounts (cash flows, payments, deposits, etc). For example, if I were to promise to pay you $100 per year for the next 3 years, that arrangement could be considered to be an annuity.

From your perspective, the periodic amounts represent deposits, as in, you can deposit the amounts into an interest earning account as you receive them. From my perspective, the periodic amounts represent payments, as in, I must remove the amounts from an interest earning account in order to pay them to you. This explains why annuity amounts (cash flows) can be referred to as deposits and payments at the same time.

What is Future Value of An Annuity?

Using the above example, if you were to invest each of the $100 annual payments at a compounding interest rate (earning interest on interest paid), the future value of that series of cash inflows would grow with each passing compounding and payment interval. The total amount this series of equal amounts would grow to after three years would be the future value of the annuity. So what would be the future value amount? That depends on the agreed upon interest rate and on whether or not we agreed to an ordinary annuity or to an annuity due.

Annuity Due Vs. Ordinary Annuity

Continuing with our example, if I agreed to make the $100 annual payments at the beginning of each year, our arrangement would be considered to be an annuity due. On the other hand, if I made the payments to you at the end of each year, our arrangement would be considered to be an ordinary annuity.

So which is better? From your perspective, an annuity due would be better since you could earn interest on the first year’s payment for the entire year. From my perspective, an ordinary annuity would be better since I could earn interest on the $100 for a full year before I made the payment to you.

So in your case, if you were earning an annual interest rate of 6% on the deposited $100 payments, the future value of an annuity due arrangement would be $337.46, whereas the future value of an ordinary annuity arrangement would be $318.36 ($19.10 less).

Why is Future Value of An Annuity Important for You to Understand?

The understanding of future value, both for lump sums and for annuities, is absolutely critical to making financial decisions that will serve to maximize the emotional returns on the money you earn. Why? Because in order to make emotionally profitable decisions (decisions that result in more good feelings that bad feelings), you need to be aware of, and be able to accurately forecast, what you are giving up in return for what you are getting.

In terms of spending money, what you give up is referred to as financial opportunity costs, and future value calculations are what helps you to determine the financial opportunity costs of choosing one alternative financial decision over another. And of those alternatives, the ones that tend to have the biggest effects on your emotional profitability, are those that involve spending money for non-essential expenditures that lose their value with time and/or use.

Example of Opportunity Cost Using Future Value Calculations

Suppose you are considering entering into a data plan for your smart phone that will cost you $35 per month. In order to make an informed decision, you need to be aware of and give equal weight to the financial opportunity costs that will come with a monthly expenditure of $35.00 for a non-essential expendable.

If you have at least 30-years left before you can retire, and could earn 6% on the $35 payments if you invested them, future value calculations will tell you that the financial opportunity cost of paying for a data plan for the next 30-years will be $22,733.82 (future value of $35,333.82 less $12,000.00, or 360-$35 payments). That is how much interest earnings you will be giving up by paying for the data plan for the next 30-years (of course, your loss will be the data plan company’s gain).

And that’s only considering just one of the possible hundreds of the non-essential expenditures you likely make on a regular basis. After all, if you spend more for an essential than the bare minimum necessary (buying non-generic, paying finance charges on purchases, paying inflated prices, etc.), then these excess essential expenditures should be considered to be non-essentials as well.

With that, let’s use the Future Value Annuity Calculator for calculating future value and financial opportunity costs for either ordinary annuities or annuities due.

How Much Does Hospice Care Cost?

Hospice care is a special type of health care that is focused on caring for individuals who are terminally ill. The main goal of hospice is to keep the patient as comfortable as possible until the end of their life. This hospice care is given 24 hours a day, with constant supervision of the patient and their needs. Since all hospice care is going to vary, it will come down to the type of care, the medication needed, the diagnosis of the person, geographical location and hospice center taking care of the patient.

How much does it cost?

Depending on the type of care that is necessary, the costs of hospice care can widely vary anywhere from $140 to as much as $1,000 per day. A patient that requires little to no supervision and medication can be near the $140 a day mark, while a patient that requires constant attention, medication and equipment maintenance can be close to that $1,000 a day mark. Most hospice care is going to be between the $140 and $300 per day mark.

Cancer.about.com states there are different coverage payments for the potential costs of hospice care, and this includes private insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid.

For those patients who opt to take Medicare as their choice of payments for their hospice care, most of your hospice care can be covered. To learn about what Medicare is going to cover, Caringinfo.org has answers.

What is going to be included?

Most hospice care services will include registered nurses, hospice aides and social workers on site. Hospice will also include short-term care, on-call medical services, counseling, medical equipment and supplies, prescriptions, therapy and all treatments necessary to ensure that the patient is living as comfortable and healthy a life as possible.

Hospice care comes in two main forms. You can either hire a hospice service that will send a nurse to your home on a daily basis, or you can put your loved one in a hospice care facility.

Hospice care is a treatment system that works with the overall well-being and health of the person or patient. For many people who suffer from diseases and ailments, you have to think of the welfare of the person being cared for. Hospice care will include the social, spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being of the patient. This type of care is available for anyone who needs it. Basic planning of the needs of the patient will have to be assessed to make sure that the patient will have the comfort and care that he or she needs.

While hospice care is an excellent option for the patient, it is also very helpful to the family. If you have a loved one that you are no longer able to care for, hospice might be a great option for both of you.

What are the extra costs?

If you are hiring a hospice care nurse to stay at your home, you may need to spend some extra money for their food and board. Some providers may require their meals to be housed by the patient’s family.

Medications are not generally included in the package for hospice care, and you may need to spend for these medicines.

Aside from medication, additional services such as equipment and miscellaneous services may be an additional cost to consider.

Outside care from physicians and other medical professionals will be an additional cost.

Emergency room visits and ambulance rides are something to consider as well.

Factors that influence the price:

Your location is perhaps the biggest factor that affects the pricing of the hospice care. If you are in a city where the costs of living are huge, then you may have to spend higher for the hospice care costs as these are basically proportioned to the economy of the city in which you live.

The extent of the care the patient needs is another element that would affect the pricing of the hospice care cost.

The condition from which the patient is suffering would be a major aspect that would increase the costs of the hospice care.

Tips to know:

It is crucial that you ask around your area for the potential providers for hospice care. There are plenty out there, and you need to make sure you get the best. Do not settle for mediocre providers just because they are cheap. It is always best to consult with at least three at a minimum to make sure that they can provide the patient what they need.

Social workers and care managers in the local hospital would have an idea of who are the best providers on the market if you are unsure where to begin.

Medicare will not pay past six months of hospice care unless there is a physician visit that deems the condition terminal.

Questions to ask a hospice:

Are you recognized by a national accepting body?

Are you Medicare certified?

Are you licensed by the state? What about the workers?

Can you provide references?

What are your policies?

How much responsibility is given to the average caregiver?

How can I save money?

If you really want to save on the funds or budget that you need to spend for the hospice care, then you may have to consider home care from hospital care. This is the best way for your to find an affordable provider who will help care for the well-being of your family member or even for yourself. SEE: How much does home care cost?

If you are having a hard time footing the bill because Medicare does not cover all of the necessary expenses, there are many financial programs and grants available for those who qualify.

18/09/2017

13:40

How To Find Devices Connected To Your Wifi Network

As we all know that, wifi is now used by lots of people and almost everyone is having their own personal wifi connection. However, you don t have much option to know who’s connected to your Wi-Fi network. So, we are going to share an easiest way that will help you find devices connected to your WiFi network. Go through the post to know about it.

T oday we are here with the cool trick that is How To Find Devices Connected To Your Wifi Network. Lots of people now use wifi, and almost everyone has their personal wifi networks. However, sometimes other person knows your password and can use your wifi network, and with that, your bandwidths get divided, and your network speed gets slow. So to overcome this, we have a cool method that will help you check out all the device that is being currently connected to your wifi network. So have a look at the complete guide below.

How To Find Devices Connected To your Wifi Network

The method is very simple and depends on a cool tool that will work on your PC and will scan all the devices connected to your wifi network. Just follow up the below steps to proceed.

Steps To Trace All The Devices Currently Connected To Your Wifi

Step 1. First of all in your Windows PC download and install the cool tool to scan devices at wifi network that is Wireless Network Watcher . Once you installed, you will see the screen like below.

Step 2. Now connect to the wifi network in which you want to check the connected devices and launch the tool on your PC and click on Start Scanning

Step 3. Once you clicked on Start Scanning, you need to wait for few seconds until it finishes the search for your connected devices on your Wifi Network

Step 4. Now you will see the list of all the devices with their IP address that currently being connected to your device.

That s it now you can check out the owner of that IP address and can trace that person.

Using SoftPerfect WiFi Guard

SoftPerfect WiFi Guard will alert you if your network is used without your knowledge. WiFi Guard is a specialized network scanner that runs through your network at set intervals and reports immediately if it has found any new, unknown or unrecognized connected devices that could belong to an intruder.

Step 1. First of all, you need to download and install SoftPerfect WiFi Guard on your computer and run it.

Step 2. Now you need to go to File and then select the option Settings

Step 3. Now enable the last three options

Step 4. Now click on Scan Now.

Step 5. If any unrecognized device connects with your WiFi network, it will notify you.

Using Fing IP Network Scanner

You need to download the Fing IP Network Scanner to access the superfast and reliable Network IP and Wi-Fi Analyzer on a Windows Machine. This is actually not a tool, like SoftPerfect Wifi Guard this actually works in a command line which will give you the MAC and IP address of all connected network. Lets know how to use it.

Step 1. First of all, you need to visit Fing.io and then need to download and install Windows- IP Network Scanner on your Windows computer.

Step 2. Once installed you need to right click on the Fing from the start menu and then select the option Run as administrator

Step 3. Now you will see the screen like below, here you need to select the option Discover. So, you need to type D and then hit the Enter button.

Step 4. Now it will ask you to select the network that you want to monitor by selected the assigned letters. Simply select the network that you want to scan.

Step 5. Now you will be asked to select how many rounds. Simply select 1 to continue.

Step 6. Now you will be asked some more questions like do you want to discover domain names, do you want the output in Log or text, which format do you prefer etc. simply select all according to your wish.

Step 7. After selecting all, you will be asked: Do you execute it now here you need to Type Y to continue.

Step 8. Now it will scan for the network and you will find the output file on the desktop.

That s it! You can now see all the connected devices to your Wifi network.

So above is all about How To Find Devices Connected To Your Wifi Network. With this method, you can easily trace out all the device that being currently connected to your wifi and stealing your wifi network. Hope you like this, do share with others too. Leave a comment if you have any related queries with this.

17/09/2017

22:26

how to apply for mortgage loan

A mortgage payment calculator is a great tool to help home buyers estimate the cost of monthly mortgage payments. Whether you’re interested in mortgage refinancing or looking to see how much tax you can deduct, these free mortgage calculator tools are here to help you. If you’re interested in simple calculation of your mortgage use the tool calculator above. Otherwise, look through the different mortgage calculators below.

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Applying for a Mortgage after a Bankruptcy

By understanding the requirements to get a mortgage after a bankruptcy and by carefully rebuilding your credit standing, you can apply for a loan and buy a home.

What Are Typical Mortgage Down Payments?

Traditional mortgage down payments have always been 10 to 25 percent of the total purchase price of the property.

Second Mortgages: Advantages and Disadvantages

A second mortgage is a loan taken out against the value of your property, in addition to your primary mortgage. These loans can offer great benefits, but they certainly come attached with some large risks as well.

The content on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not legal or professional advice. Advertised rates on this site are provided by the third party advertiser and not by us. We do not guarantee that the loan terms or rates listed on this site are the best terms or lowest rates available in the market. All lending decisions are determined by the lender and we do not guarantee approval, rates or terms for any lender or loan program. Not all applicants will be approved and individual loan terms may vary. Users are encouraged to use their best judgment in evaluating any third party services or advertisers on this site before submitting any information to any third party.

14/09/2017

02:36

how to select glasses

One of our best sellers for sure – 100% authentic. Sarah Palin’s eyeglasses still look great – (her color is the gray). The Kazuo Kawasaki 704 Gray Titanium eyeglasses. This rimless frame is elegantly accented with simple beta-titanium temples that simply shout sophistication. The rimless frame design makes these glasses feel almost weightless on your face! Progressive prescription lenses are all digital HD lenses. This frame is very popular with our high-end progressive lenses (but works just fine with single vision lenses). Hard to install, this is one we recommend you have us install the lenses (to avoid problems at your local Opticians office).

Now if you are looking for her favorite sunglasses, Sarah Palin found gorgeous sunglasses to explore her biggest asset, the beauty-queen face. She was spotted at the Philadelphia Phillies vs. Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game wearing the Juicy Couture Palace/S sunglasses.

**All Kawasaki frames can be modified by selecting a different lens shape (over 140 lens shapes are available). Please contact us at 212-535-4022 should you wish to order a different lens shape not shown:**

Note: This frame requires special drilling and mounting that many local opticians cannot support. Save time & money – order your frame with prescription lenses and simply send us your prescription via email & fax.

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